Review: The Power Couple by Alex Berenson
Posted on February 16, 2021 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.
The Power Couple by Alex Berenson
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Hardcover: Simon Schuster | Audiobook: Simon & Schuster Audio
Length: HC: 432 pages | Audio: 12 hrs and 49 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
A domestic suspense with just a hint of espionage and political thriller thrown into the mix, The Power Couple by Alex Berenson was fun read. Best of all, it felt like getting two books in one, and the author won’t reveal how everything is connected until the very end.
Rebecca and Brian Unsworth have been married for twenty years, so for their anniversary they’ve decided to do something truly special, like treating themselves and their kids to a much-needed vacation in Europe. But behind the façade of this happy all-American family is a rot that has been festering for quite some time. Consumed with her work at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rebecca has long been neglecting her relationships with her husband and children, leaving Brian quietly resentful even though her connections had helped him get a coder job at the NSA. Both are aware they’ve been slowly drifting apart, and their hope for this European getaway is that it will also help bring them closer together.
But one night in Barcelona, their teenage daughter Kira leaves for a dance club and doesn’t return to the hotel. Witnesses say she met an attractive stranger before leaving with him and some of his friends, the last anyone saw of any of them. Thus begins Kira’s terrifying journey as a kidnapping victim, taken for reasons she knows nothing about, though her captors seem to know a lot about her. Meanwhile, after the local police has done all they can, Rebecca and Brian scramble to mobilize their own resources in the US government to help track down their daughter. Surely, if Kira had just been a random target, her abductors shouldn’t be too hard to find. But what if it hadn’t been random? What if someone had gone after Kira to send a message?
Our story begins with practically no preamble, opening with the events leading up to Kira’s kidnapping, all of it unfolding from her point of view. After these harrowing sections, however, the narrative suddenly switches tack, flashing back all the way to Rebecca’s college days in law school. From there on out, we get the story of how she decided she was going to join the FBI, as well as how she met and fell in love with Brian, eventually getting married and starting a family. At first, this abrupt switch seemed counter-intuitive and even unwelcome, considering how rudely we were torn away from the present timeline and the heart-pounding events that were taking place. I wanted to know what was happening to Kira and what her parents were doing to get her back, so why on earth was my time being wasted with a rundown of Rebecca’s life story?
Well, suffice to say, I found out why in the end. This book is definitely a puzzle that requires all its pieces to make sense—put together the domestic suspense half with the half about the kidnapping, and voila, you have the key! Thriller fans will enjoy this story, which reminds me a little of Taken, but whereas Liam Neeson’s character was former CIA and Green Beret, Kira’s parents are not quite so badass. In fact, despite the novel’s title, Rebecca and Brian don’t hold much power at all at their respective agencies, though they do have some bureaucratic connections. Still, for the most part, the sections of the book dealing with the parents are less about the action and more about the mistrust and suspicions surrounding a poisonous marriage—themes that leave you on the edge of your seat in their own intense way.
As with most thrillers, the personalities of our characters also ended up playing a huge role. Brian and Rebecca are flawed individuals and neither of them inspire much sympathy, though that’s what makes books like this so fun. I loved how we got both their perspectives, allowing readers to compare and spot where their credibility might be compromised and speculate reasons as to why they would lie. It’s a guessing game all the way through, until the story ultimately culminates in a shocking yet satisfying ending.
The Power Couple was my first book by Alex Berenson, but after this, I’ll surely be looking out for more of his work. Had a great time with this one, with its compulsive storytelling and electrifying ambience. Recommended.
Review: A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
Posted on February 15, 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.
A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Historical Fiction
Series: Book 1 of A History of What Comes Next
Publisher: Hardcover: Tor.com | Audibook: Macmillan Audio (February 2, 2021)
Length: HC: 304 pages | Audio: 9 hrs and 22 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
A strange yet intriguing version of the space race is retold in this first installment of Sylvain Neuvel’s Take Them to the Stars trilogy, an alternate history following the lives of several generations of women from a family of otherworldly beings. Sara and Mia are the latest members in a long line of Kibsu, an all-female society whose ancient origins are believed to go way back beyond the dawn of human civilization. Since then, a team consisting of a mother and her daughter, identical in their genetic makeup, has existed with the sole purpose to shape and influence humanity with the end goal of helping them reach the stars, else an evil which has been hunting them for millennia will catch up and kill them all.
The ninety-ninth generation, Mia finds herself traveling to Germany in the mid-1940s on a secret mission to recruit aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun as part of Operation Paperclip, an American program to secure the space race. Soon after though, her mother Sara fears that the age-old enemies of the Kibsu, known as the Trackers, are dangerously close to discovering their location, forcing them to flee to Moscow. There, the pair begin a new undertaking to aid the Russian space program, hoping that this would also send the United States scrambling to develop their own rockets. Time, however, is running out in more ways than one. Humanity is close to making a breakthrough, but the Trackers are also hot on the women’s trail. Furthermore, Sara knows that a new generation must be created if their mission is to continue, but there can never be more than two Kibsu for long. While Mia understands what needs to be done, her heart breaks at the idea of giving up everything for duty, not to mention she is not yet ready to lose her mother.
It’s an interesting premise, to be sure. That said, if you’re the kind of reader who prefers their stories with clear, logical plot progression and convincing explanations, A History of What Comes Next will probably not be your cup of tea. To start, if you were reading my summary and wondered what the motives of the Kibsu might be, you’re sadly not going to get much more beyond what I’ve already outlined. As for their origins, the whys and hows are foggy at best, and not even the many flashbacks sprinkled throughout the narrative were able to provide much clarity. Ultimately, one gets the sense you’re not supposed to ask too many questions, since the characters themselves are unsure of the answers.
On a positive note though, the ideas in this book were very unique. Neuvel incorporates real events, writing about everything from the post-WWII period to the tail end of the space race with an eye towards detail, a point which should win a lot of favor with historical fiction fans. At the same time, he’s also weaving in the supernatural and other speculative elements which fantasy and science fiction fans should eat right up. Of course, given that the overlap between these two groups is going to be much narrower, the question is whether this novel will find an audience, and here’s where I think things get a little trickier.
As well, I can see the story’s format being an obstacle for some, for not only does the book’s structure employ multiple perspectives with flashbacks, the writing style is also somewhat reminiscent of the author’s Themis Files trilogy, unfolding mostly in dialogue. It’s a gutsy move, since so much could go wrong, and I confess that during my experimentation with different formats for this novel, I found that the style made for a very poor audiobook experience even with a full cast doing the different voices. Even when reading in print, the prose simply felt too broken up, and because a lot of times we were limited to dialogue, I often felt I was missing out on a ton of context due to a lack of description.
In the end, I am torn. The ideas here were great, and I loved the blend of history and SFF, but the book would have been a richer, fuller experience for me had it been told in a more conventional style. This was a niche read, one that will probably struggle to find wide appeal, though on the other hand, I believe those whom it speaks to will absolutely adore it. There’s definitely potential here, a chance for this trilogy to grow and become so much more. I guess we shall see with the sequel.
Audiobook Review: Star Wars: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray
Posted on February 14, 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.
Star Wars: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Media Tie-In
Series: Star Wars Canon, Star Wars: The High Republic
Publisher: Listening Library (February 2, 2021)
Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Dan Bittner
Into the Dark was my fifth Star Wars book by Claudia Gray, but it’s probably the first one I didn’t love. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it well enough, but I was also lukewarm about a lot of it. Unfortunately, I just don’t do as well with large casts when it comes to media tie-ins with their multitude of subplots and character perspectives.
Our story takes place in the era known as the High Republic, a setting created for a new series of written work launched in early 2021 to expand the Star Wars universe. Thus far there have only been a handful of books published, and Into the Dark is the first YA novel. Although it is intended to be a standalone, this story is also set around the Emergences space disaster featured in other The High Republic books. We are introduced to a padawan named Reath Silas, whose master had volunteered their services at the new Galactic Republic base established in the Outer Rim called Starlight Beacon. Along for the ride are also Jedi Knights Dez Rydan and Orla Jareni, as well as Jedi Master Colmac Vitus. Each of them have their own reasons to go, but all are committed to supporting the cause of their order and the Republic.
But when their transport is forced out of hyperspace by the Emergences, the Jedi must find a way to help bring the crew to safety. They end up at what appears to be an abandoned space station with a mysterious garden zealously protected by an army of droids, and that’s just one of many strange things they encounter. As more starts to go wrong, our characters discover the disturbing origins of the station, which is a remnant of an ancient race of aliens who have left certain safeguards in place to control an aggressive carnivorous plant species that would be a danger to the galaxy if set loose. And despite their best intentions, the Jedi may have inadvertently disrupted the careful balance of the station, putting everything at risk.
While Claudia Gray is still by far my favorite of the new Star Wars canon authors, I thought Into the Dark was probably her weakest. She usually writes great characters, but the attention here was simply spread too thin among too many perspectives, and even though Reath may be the closest thing to a protagonist, I also felt he was the dullest. The main gist of his character appears to be his reluctance to leave the comforts of Coruscant for the wild frontier of the Outer Rim, and he basically spends the entire book trying to broaden his horizons but still doesn’t quite manage it. Compared to Gray’s other novels where her protagonists typically grow a lot by story’s end, Reath’s journey didn’t seem to have much of an impact. It’s like his biggest challenge is still around the corner given the losses he experiences at the end of the book, and everything that occurred up to that point was just the leadup.
Also keep in mind that during this time, the Jedi were still all about eschewing attachments and forming any kind of emotional connection to anyone or anything, so one can’t help but think this might have also limited what Gray could have done with the characters. I therefore actually find it quite interesting and appropriate that this topic was touched upon in Master Colmac’s story arc. He was definitely one of the more compelling POVs, and I especially enjoyed his internal struggle and questioning of the Jedi’s ways (though I wasn’t so keen on the flashbacks to his early life which I felt were more distraction than explanation). Other characters I enjoyed included the pilot team of Affie and the spice-addled Leox who presented opportunities for cultural exchange and information sharing so that readers too can learn about the differences between the peoples of the core worlds and the Outer Rim.
In terms of the story, the plot involving the Amaxine and the Drengir might have come across as a bit convoluted, but what really excited me was when things started linking up to the bigger series arc concerning the Nihil. These are the main villains of The High Republic, after all, and naturally I was intrigued to read more.
That said, in many ways Into the Dark suffered some of the same issues I had with Light of the Jedi, and I believe the main reason has to do with the fact that this era’s timeline and its characters are still so new. We’re essentially starting fresh, and it’s inevitable that readers are going to need some time to get to learn the ropes. I think this is where I am now, but as time goes on, I’m sure it will become easier to feel more invested and connected to all the names, events, and places. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to getting more of The High Republic lore, and this is a series I will continue to stick with as long as I’m enjoying myself.
Bookshelf Roundup: 02/13/21: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Posted on February 13, 2021 25 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.
The laptop saga continues. It was determined that my old one was well and truly busted, so I did get a replacement this week…only to get a faulty one that didn’t work right out of the box. So right now, that return is being processed and I’m still sharing my desktop with my kids, but hopefully by the start of next week everything will be sorted.
In the meantime, we had a couple of back-to-back snow events these past few weeks. I was driving in my neighborhood after a fresh snowfall one morning and just had to pull over and take this pic because I was struck by how perfectly beautiful everything was.
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!
Kicking off this week’s roundup is My Heart Is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, a surprise arrival from the amazing folks at Saga Press. Ever since The Only Good Indians I’ve been meaning to pick up another book by the author, and with luck this one seems way more my speed. And seriously, that title is awesome!
Earlier in the week I also received an ARC of Wings of Fury by Emily R. King with thanks to 47North and the Wunderkind PR team. This one was new to me, but a quick look on Goodreads revealed it to be a Greek mythology inspired fantasy, which is all I need to know! Definitely want to check this one out if I can.
And with thanks to Subterranean Press, I also received Alias Space and Other Stories by Kelly Robson. I’ve never read the author, but her name has popped up on many of the biggest SFF anthologies in the last few years which has made me curious about her work. Getting a book collecting all of her best stories in one handy volume is pretty sweet!
This week, I received lot of exciting new audiobooks for review. With thanks to Harper Audio, I snagged a couple of YA titles I’ve had my eye on, including the highly anticipated The Iron Raven by Julie Kagawa, and a new fantasy debut called The Bright and the Pale by Jessica Rubinkowski. I was also happy when the audiobook of The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst became available to request, because I think it has the potential to be a really good listen. There were also quite a few early ALC titles offered, and I couldn’t help but be drawn to the synopsis for Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson, a mystery thriller about a mother who will stop at nothing to get her abducted infant son back.
And speaking of thrillers, with thanks to Penguin Random House Audio, I also received The Downstairs Neighbor by Helen Cooper. Not gonna lie, the blurb comparing it to Shari Lapena’s work was a big part of why I wanted to take a look. Last but not least, I was also super pumped to receive a listening copy of Quiet In Her Bones by Nalini Singh. I’ve always wanted to read her, maybe 2021 will finally be the year!
Reviews
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec (4 of 5 stars)
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (3.5 of 5 stars)
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (3 of 5 stars)
Guest Posts
“Writing About Plague in A Time of Plague” by Stephen Deas
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: Beastly
Posted on February 12, 2021 18 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 beast, something cuddly, or a fur covering”
~ a BEASTLY cover
Mogsy’s Pick:
Wild Country by Anne Bishop
I loved how this week’s theme was open and that we were pretty much free to go with any sort of furry creature or beast, but I kind of had my heart set on a bear, just because. I figured I would get some good hits with The Others series, which presents a curious view of the world if supernatural beings like vampires and animal shapeshifters had conquered the world instead of humans, and I was not disappointed. Looking through the editions available for the aptly titled Wild Country, I found exactly what I wanted.
From left to right:
Ace (2019) – Portuguese Edition (2019) – French Edition (2020)
Winner:
I had some beary particular preferences this week, so it’s probably no surprise which cover I chose.
But what do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Book Review: Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
Posted on February 11, 2021 25 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Tor Books (February 2, 2021)
Length: 432 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Well, this wasn’t awesome, but it was still pretty good! If you are looking for a fun and engaging sci-fi read that goes down easy, like a big bucket of buttery popcorn, then Winter’s Orbit might just fit the bill. That said, managing expectations is sort of critical with this one, as is being aware of its origins on Archive of Our Own, the open-source fanfiction website. For while you can take the book out of AO3, you can’t always take the AO3 out of the book, and this is a story where its fanfic roots are plain to see.
The main focus of Winter’s Orbit is on two princes, Kiem and Jainan, who must enter into an arranged political marriage in order to quell the hostilities rising within a beleaguered galactic empire. As the novel opens, an important peace treaty called the Resolution is in jeopardy when Prince Taam of Iskat suddenly dies, prompting swift action by the emperor to mend the broken alliance with the planet Thea, home of Taam’s widower Jainan. As a last resort, Taam’s flighty and disreputable playboy cousin Kiem is called upon to wed Jainan, so that the allegiance of the Theans is ensured and amiable relations between their two sides can continue.
Thrown together by duty and circumstance, our two protagonists try to make the best of the situation, understanding the importance of their roles in maintaining peace. However, as new evidence comes to light suggesting that Prince Taam’s death was no accident, and that Jainan himself might have been involved, the alliance between Iskat and Thea becomes threatened once again, leading the empire down a path of war. With the fate of worlds hanging in the balance, Kiem and Jainan must come to terms with their feelings for each other and learn to trust one another despite their differences, for only then can they begin working towards solving a murder and eventually uncover the greater mystery at hand.
So, let’s just get the negatives out of the way first. I’m going to preface this by saying there’s legitimately good fanfiction out there, speaking as someone who has enjoyed reading her fair share of them over the years. That’s also how I know there’s a bunch of silly tropes—tropes that might be perfectly fine if you’re bored and looking for a bit of escapism with some of your favorite characters based in some of your favorite worlds, but are admittedly not so ideal when you’re picking up a novel with the expectation for more pretext. My main issue was that, even from the very start, every major plot point in Winter’s Orbit has already been telegraphed, and so for the entirety of its four hundred plus pages, I chafed with sensation that we were simply going with the motions and witnessing theater. As a result, the intrigue and action elements were lackluster, mostly because I already knew everything that was going to happen, not to mention the romance itself was pretty shallow, permeated with manufactured conflict.
That said, I enjoyed the two central characters, for all that they were your standard cardboard cutouts playing predictable roles. Kiem reminds me of a big, adorable puppy, always bounding around getting into trouble because he’s a clueless, awkward, and larger-than-life goofball, and yet his heart of gold and his capacity to love is just so strong, you can’t help but find him endearing. Playing on the “opposites attract” theme, Jainan is far on the other side of the spectrum—quiet, introspective, and more prone to take a step back in any situation to analyze before acting. Again, it all just feels so put-on and fabricated as an excuse to inject unnecessary drama or create conditions rife for misunderstanding and miscommunication, though to be fair, I know plenty of other traditionally published romances that also utilize these very same tropes, for the very fact that they are entertaining, cute, and comfortably familiar.
Incidentally, those are also the words I would use to describe Winter’s Orbit. It’s science fiction lite, but while world-building may be on the sparser side, the story itself super easy to get into, and the good news is you won’t need multiple spreadsheets and character charts to follow along with the political machinations and intrigue. I also liked how the romance featured prominently but wasn’t overbearing or too distracting from the overall plot. Will this be the most original or inspiring novel you read this year? Probably not. But it certainly comes packaged with all the ingredients of mass appeal, which means readers looking for a fun, casual sci-fi read with a good balance of story elements will find plenty of enjoyment.
Waiting on Wednesday 02/10/21
Posted on February 10, 2021 19 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
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (August 17, 2021 by Del Rey)
Will I ever not be excited for a new Silvia Moreno-Garcia book? Nope, I don’t think so.
“From the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic comes a riveting noir about a daydreaming secretary, a lonesome enforcer, and the mystery of the missing woman that brings them together.
1970s Mexico City. Maite is a secretary who lives for one thing: the latest issue of Secret Romance. While student protests and political unrest consume the city, Maite escapes into stories of passion and danger.
Her next-door neighbor, Leonora, a beautiful art student, seems to live a life of intrigue and romance that Maite envies. When Leonora disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman–and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents.
Meanwhile, someone else is also looking for Leonora at the behest of his boss, a shadowy figure who commands goon squads dedicated to squashing political activists. Elvis is an eccentric criminal who longs to escape his own life: He loathes violence and loves old movies and rock ‘n’ roll. But as Elvis searches for the missing woman, he comes to observe Maite from a distance–and grows more and more obsessed with this woman who shares his love of music, and the unspoken loneliness of his heart.
Now as Maite and Elvis come closer to discovering the secrets behind Leonora’s disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives, with hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies aiming to protect Leonora’s secrets–at gunpoint.”
Audiobook Review: The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
Posted on February 9, 2021 23 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 Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Penguin Audio (February 9, 2021)
Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Jayne Entwistle
In the tradition of Madeline Miller’s Circe comes Genevieve Gornichec’s debut The Witch’s Heart, a creative reimagining the life of the Norse mythological figure Angrboda. The world may know her as the lover of Loki and the mother of monsters, but this novel seeks to present her as something more—a fiercely passionate and driven woman who will do anything to protect her children.
In the beginning is fire and death; Odin the All-Father is angered by a witch who denies him access to any more magic, so he punishes her by tearing out her heart and burning her at the stake. Thanks to her powers though, she was able to survive but just barely. Weakened and wounded, she retreats to the forest at the edge of world where she can be left unbothered and alone.
However, this new life of seclusion was interrupted when the trickster god Loki, having found the witch’s missing heart, decided to seek her out to return it. The two of them end up falling in love, and in time, three children are born from their marriage—Hel, who will later rule over the realm of the dead; Fenrir, the monstrous wolf; and Jormungand, the world serpent. All three of them, in some way, are prophesied to play a part in the coming of Ragnarok, the final destruction of the world, but to Angrboda, her children are her life and happiness. For their protection, she decides to raise them alone in the quiet and peaceful forest, shielding them away from the world of their father, who darts in and out of their lives as he pleases. But soon, the nightmares and visions start to become too much, and it is only a matter of time before prophesy catches up to Angrboda and her children, setting in motion a chain of events that will test her courage and will to overcome insurmountable challenges.
If you enjoy mythological fantasy and beautiful retellings, then you will love The Witch’s Heart. One does not even need to know much about Norse mythology to appreciate this novel, since at its core, the story is really more a character study of Angrboda than a rehash of the events that lead to Ragnarok. We begin with a low-key introduction to the protagonist, who simply wishes to live a quiet life as she recovers from the horrific ordeal of her burning. Still, even then, readers can sense the strength and powerful personality behind the character, which is only more apparent once Loki enters the picture. The dialogue is heavy early on, but it is also sublimely written, especially the banter between the trickster and our girl Angrboda, who is able to match her lover’s wit with a fiery intelligence and punchiness of her own.
Then there are the themes of love, friendship, and motherhood, which made this book an even greater joy to read. Little is written and known about Angrboda compared to her more famous husband and children, so in many ways, this gave the author more freedom and creativity to explore the character. What Angrboda wants is what any loving mother wants—to see her children thrive and be happy. When that is threatened, the results were gut-wrenching and difficult to read. Ultimately, The Witch’s Heart might be retelling of mythological events and figures, but its main character’s motivations and feelings are all human, and the theme of the devoted mother was the one that came through strongest of all. In addition to blending the myth with fiction, Gornichec managed to weave in layers of heartfelt emotion and meaning on top of the narrative, and the result is a very personal and relatable tale.
Overall, I found this novel to be a poignant and magical read. No doubt it’s a must for fans of mythological fantasy and retellings, but I have a feeling it will also speak to anyone who enjoys multilayered and character-focused stories of family and friendships. Crafted with no small amount of dedication and skill, The Witch’s Heart dazzled me, and I will be watching out for the author’s future work with great interest.
Audiobook Comments: My first impression of Jayne Entwistle’s performance was that her voice might have sounded a little too flat and mellow for Angrboda, but as the story went on, I think it became a better match as I gained a deeper appreciation and understanding for the character.
Guest Post: “Writing About Plague in a Time of Plague” by Stephen Deas
Posted on February 8, 2021 10 Comments
Today the BiblioSanctum is thrilled to welcome author Stephen Deas, author of The Moonsteel Crown–an epic, fun and sweary fantasy heist novel published by Angry Robot available February 9 wherever books are sold. To celebrate, Stephen has kindly shared with us his experience working on the book during a time when our own world was going through much change and uncertainty, and I hope you’ll enjoy checking it out!
WRITING ABOUT PLAUGE IN A TIME OF PLAGUE
by Stephen Deas
The Moonsteel Crown (Angry Robot, 9th February) centres around Myla, Fings and Seth, three misfit undesirables. Myla is a former sword-monk with far too much interest in earthly pleasures for the spiritual path of the aesthete. Superstitious Fings simply has a pathological inability to respect the notion of things belonging to other people. Seth forges official papers and is quietly attempting to undermine the organised religion of which he was once a part. They are not, in summary, respectful of authority.
The second volume (The Book of Endings) is due to come out a year from now. I started writing it eighteen months ago and it was submitted just before Christmas. Right from the off, long before the first whispers of something coming out of Wuhan Province, The Book of Endings was going to be set in a city stricken by plague. By the time the first draft was half done, COVID was clearly about to be a major thing, but it was (for me) remote and seemed to me to be something that a sensible nation and government, given the months of warning available, might reasonably be expected to address in such a way that it wouldn’t sweep in like tidal wave and wreak havoc, and then stay wreaking havoc for… well, who knows how long we’ll be living like this.
We went into the first lockdown a week before I finished the first draft. I sat on it for a while and did the edits The Moonsteel Crown. By the time I came back to it, it was obviously going to have to change. I spent most of the latter part of last year doing rewrites to it, while at the same time seeing how real people across the world behaved and reacted to an actual real plague.
To begin with, I tried to see it as something useful. Silver lining and all that. My plague was more dangerous than COVID (modelled on smallpox, for what it’s worth), and yet people largely kept on about their business. That had to change. My city also had a general consensus on how to not get the plague (prayer). Now some people pray, and some people burn incense, and some people wear scented masks (some people argue it’s only the scent that matters), and some form lynch mobs and burn down entire streets at the first sign of an outbreak, and some blame it on the occasional walking Dead Man (there will be a subreddit somewhere about how Corona is linked to zombies), and some blame the foreign sailors (City of Plague is a major sea-port, and disease arriving by sea was a bit of an actual thing), and some put it down to a curse laid on the city by that Warlock who was driven out a couple of decades back, and, and… Look, it’s a fantasy city so it doesn’t have a 5G network, but there’s going to be someone who’s quite certain it’s being spread by carrier pigeons.
There was a sense of panic, but it was too uniform. There are lynchings now, but also orderly queues of people patiently waiting for hours to get on the boats that will get them away. I suppose what living through an actual pandemic brought home was the basic resilience and resistance to change of human society as a whole (something which it seems to me very much cuts both ways) coupled with the sheer variety of individual responses.
In the end, writing about a plague while living through one was simply exhausting. I don’t think I’ve properly sorted out how Myla, Fings and Seth should react. Should they be different? They probably should, but honestly, having my characters argue about something equivalent to wearing masks? There’s enough of that in the real world. I don’t have the energy. Probably one of them should be fatalistic, one of them paranoid about getting it, and one somewhere in the middle. And then they should probably disagree about it, but you know… can we just not?
There are the things that got cut. There was a certain amount of plague-linked xenophobia which hits too close to the bone for my taste now. It would have been easy to write some minor subplots about people being stupid or selfish or exploitative in a way that reflects the world I see outside the window. I want to write those. I’m angry about all sorts of things, but this isn’t the place for that.
In the end, these stories are supposed to be an escape – heaven knows we need that right now. Hopefully, by the time The Book of Endings comes out, all this will be an unpleasant memory… but I have my doubts. And even if it is all largely over, that won’t bring back the people who’ve died and it’ll be scant consolation for all those suffering with long-term side-effects. It is, frankly, tempting to simply pull the plug on the whole plague thing and start again. If it was window-dressing, I think I would. But there’s a reason for this plague. It’s at the heart of the plot. I honestly don’t know what to do.
It’s still a work in progress.
I’ll try to be respectful.
Please wear a mask.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen Deas, born in 1968 in Southeast England, is an English fantasy author. He is most famous for his fantasy opus, the Memory of Flames sequence, set in a fantasy world inhabited by dragons.
YA Weekend: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Posted on February 7, 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.
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fantasy, Romance
Series: Book 1 of These Violent Delights
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (November 17, 2020) | Tantor Audio (January 26, 2021)
Length: Hardcover: 449 pages | Audiobook: 14 hrs and 14 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Audiobook Narrator: Cindy Kay
I’ll be honest, These Violent Delights took me longer to finish than I would consider normal for myself, and ultimately I believe it was due to a combination of several things which I will elaborate on below. When I first started coming across some of the mixed reviews for this book though, I didn’t want to believe them. The premise sounded so amazing and I so badly wanted it to reach its potential, and to its credit, things did seem wonderful when I first started—at least for a brief time. Frustratingly, it was once the second half rolled around that the story began to undercut everything that made the beginning so great.
Billed as a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet in the gangster-ridden streets of Shanghai in 1926, These Violent Delights stars Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai, scions of their respective criminal empires. He is the heir to a Russian gang called White Flowers, while she is the Chinese heiress to the Scarlet Gang, two sides that have been forever at war over territory and influence in the city. In the midst of all the fighting, however, a mysterious and supernatural force may soon rise up from the shadows and destroy them all.
At first, it was just a few isolated cases: reports of gang members from both sides overcome by a kind of madness that causes them to tear out their own throats. As the number of these horrific incidents begin to climb though, both the White Flowers and the Scarlet Gang grow worried. Is it some kind of disease? How contagious is it? Muddying things even further are the whispers of a monster lurking in the dark waters of the Huangpu River. Unable to ignore the rising death toll, Juliette decides to do her own investigation, and to her chagrin, discovers along the way that her White Flowers counterpart has been doing the same thing. She and Roma both come to the conclusion that in order to save their beloved Shanghai, they must put aside their animosity long enough to put a stop to what’s killing their people. Still, it’s not going to be easy. Bad enough that their two houses are mortal enemies, but Roma and Juliette were once lovers as well—until he betrayed her.
First, the good: I loved the setting of 1920s Shanghai, an era in which the city was famously known as “the Paris of the East, the New York of the West” and became a commercial hub for East Asia. As the result of attracting visitors from all over the world, the city between divided between a more European half and more traditional Chinese half, which I thought the novel depicted very well. In the background was also the opium trade and the power struggle between the political and social factions of Shanghai, all of which author Chloe Gong tried to incorporate into this tale in some form, and the depth of her research cannot be denied. And then there were the characters and their circumstances. Reimagining Romeo and Juliet to this backdrop was certainly ambitious, but given the context of the historical elements, the concept couldn’t have been a more perfect fit.
As for what could have been better…well, just about everything else. Part of the problem was that there was just so much going on. On top of all the historical aspects, gang activity, and character interpersonal drama, there seemed to be this insistence on loading this book to the gills with even more side plots and branching paths. The mysterious madness, the shadowy labs, and even an all-consuming monster! All cool ideas, but none felt developed to the point of coherence or unity with the rest of the plot. The main characters also seemed kind of bland, and their romance even less appealing. I mean, if you can’t enjoy the romance in a Romeo and Juliet retelling, then what is there?
I also found the overall writing style to be unstable. This being a debut, I’m not going to come down too hard on this aspect, but the overly flowery prose did grate on my nerves here and there. On the other hand, there were also moments of beauty, flashes of genuine brilliance, especially in the descriptions of the city. Having lived in Shanghai, I found myself familiar with many of the locations referenced in the book, from the bustling atmosphere of the Bund to some of the impressive architecture along the waterfront promenade, and there were definite moments where I felt Gong’s writing transport me back to that place.
Bottom line? These Violent Delights is a flawed debut, but there were also moments of greatness that I think with a little more polish could have made this a better novel. Chloe Gong is a new author, so I have no doubt more experience and books under her belt will help with issues like purple prose and balancing out the story details. I’m going to take a wait and see approach at this point, and check out the next book if there’s an assurance that a lot of the threads left hanging here the will be further developed.
The BiblioSanctum 