The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

 

Last year, I got a eARC of Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I really enjoyed it! Before that, I’d seen her name around on best of lists and upcoming books to look forward to, but it wasn’t until the Hugo nomination for the Daughter of Dr. Moureau that I decided it was time to put her to the top of my to-read pile. I enjoyed it and also really enjoyed Silver Nitrate. 

When I reviewed it, I wrote that it reminded me of how I felt when I read 11/22/63 by Steven King - I really enjoyed both books, and for both books I really would have liked to see how the author would have written the story without anything supernatural going on. 

Well, I feel like I got my wish! The Seventh Veil of Salome is not a horror novel - except for the horrors of racism and sexism. It is historical fiction set in old Hollywood during the filming of a movie version of the biblical story of Salome, while alternating sections retelling the author’s version of that tale. Not being familiar with the story, I found this novel fascinating and engrossing. The characters feel real and the story has a sad but realistic feeling ending. I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire

I was already a big fan of Ms. McGuire’s when the first wayward children book, Every Heart a Doorway, came out, and I loved it! As a kid who grew up loving the Oz series and resenting the Christian imagery in Narnia, it was right up my alley. It is a wonderful book and this is an excellent series, definitely deserving of its Best Series Hugo win.  In this series, the odd numbered books are the main timeline, and the even numbered books tell stories outside the main timeline - sometimes introducing us to new characters when they travel through their Doors, and other times showing up backstory of preexisting characters. 

I was overjoyed when tordotcom and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear . I hope for eARCs of the wayward children books every year and once again this year I was finally lucky enough to get one!

This story is an even numbered book, so it is not advancing the main story forward - it more of a character study of Nadya. We met Nadya way back when the gang went on a journey to resurrect Sumi. We hadn’t learned that much of her story except that her Door led to a world of water with turtles in it, and that she eventually made it back there. 

This story is heartbreaking - we learned that Nadya was abandoned at a Russian orphanage by a teenager who was planning on giving her up even before she saw that she was born with a missing arm. The orphanage part isn’t the heartbreaking part - it is the way Nadya is treated by the right wing religious couple who adopt her as an act of charity, not love. Nadya’s time in her world is wonderful but too brief, and I was so sad when she was ripped away at the end of the novella, heartened only by my memory of her ultimate happier ending. 

I tried to savor this book but failed, rushing through to the end because I couldn’t put it down. 

I cannot wait to devour the next one!

The Bound Worlds by Megan E. OKeefe

Oooof. 

When I reviewed book 2 of this trilogy, I wrote “Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m going to read the third book when it comes out - I don’t know if I care enough about these characters or this world to slog through another doorstop of a novel.”

Well, gentle readers, I did slog through the final book. 

And I kind of wish I didn’t? 

It was long. It was boring. And the author seemed like she was trying to rehabilitate the controlling and violent ex boyfriend character. 

The story took several unexpected twists and turns that didn’t make alot of sense. I was, ultimately, disappointed. 

Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

Who here doesn’t know about Chuck Tingle? Author of dinosaur erotica, unwitting target of the Rabid Puppies who turned their own hate against them, he is a neurodivergent pink-masked beacon of hope who preaches that love is love. I excitedly read Camp Damascus, his first traditionally published novel last year, and really enjoyed it! It was a tad rough in spots but the story and the message outweighed any minor issues. So I was very excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an ARC of his new book, Bury Your Gays, in audiobook format in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved this book! I’m not much of a horror reader, but between T Kingfisher and Chuck Tingle, I am starting to be a big fan! The protagonist of this book is a Hollywood showrunner who is being forced to kill one of his two leads rather than allow them to have a lesbian romance (hence the title). It is set in a near future where an AI generated performance is nominated for best picture. And when the protagonist balks at killing his characters, suddenly characters from some of his prior movies appear in real life and come after him. The details of his young closeted life and issues with coming out are handled deftly and realistically, and makes me wonder what a non-genre character driven work by this author would look like (Im guessing it would be amazing). 

The resolution of the horror aspects of the plot did not feel 100% earned to me, but this is a minor quibble in an excellent novel. Highly recommend!

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

 

I have a confession to make.  I have not yet read Jonathan Norrel and Mr. Strange.  I know, I know! 

My first encounter with Susanna Clarke’s work was when Piranesi was nominated for a Hugo Award. I read it as part of the voting packet and I loved it! It was unlike anything else I had read that year and it was so unexpected. I put Jonathan Norrel and Mr. Strange on my To Read pile but it’s too heavy to bring on the train for my daily commute. 

When I saw a new book by Ms. Clarke available on NetGalley, I excitedly requested it! And while it was disappointingly short, being only an illustrated short story, it was delightfully enchanting. 

The story is rather slight, but this piece more than makes up for it in atmosphere and style. To call it magical and enchanting is to undersell it. This story is a perfect morsel and I look forward to soon enjoying the feast of her longer work. 

Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey

I have loved Mercedes Lackey’s books for thirty years. As I said in my review of her last book, I still have the SFBC omnibus of the Last Herald Mage trilogy on my shelf and I can’t tell you how many times I read it in my youth (it was a lot). 

Until recently, I hadn’t read many of her Valdemar books in the last few years. I listened to the audiobooks of the Collegium Chronicles series, which was fun, but I felt it dragged on too long, with too many kidnappings, and the narrator’s interpretation of Mags’s accent drove me bananas. I lost touch with the series when my library stopped buying the ebooks of the Herald Spy series after Closer to Home, and I was disappointed in Spy, Spy Again, the third volume in the series focusing on Mags’s kids. 

In the last two years, I enjoyed Beyond and Into the West, the first two books of this prequel series set before the founding of Valdemar. So I was eager to read the third and final volume, titled Valdemar, when I got it from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I was irritated by a ten year time jump from the last book to this one, but otherwise, I have very few complaints. The story swept me up in its narrative. Finally, this is the book where we finally finally meet the Companions! Having been waiting for this moment for two and half books (and many decades as a fan) did the moment live up to the expectations? Mostly yes! It really felt like a classic novel of Valdemar, which is the highest praise I can bestow on this. 

Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker

 

Sarah Pinsker became one of my new favorite authors when I read her multiversal murder mystery And Then There Was N-1. It just blew me away. I loved her debut novel, A Song For A New Day, whose near future world of social distancing following a plague and terrorist attacks seemed far fetched when it first came out and now makes me afraid to reread it for how prescient it was. Her two short story collections entranced me - she is always a must buy author for me. I was overjoyed when I got an eARC of her new book, Haunt Sweet Home, from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was so excellent! I couldn’t put it down! The protagonist is a young woman who has dropped out of multiple colleges and has been working crappy retail/service jobs for years when she gets an offer from her successful cousin to do grunt work on his reality show, which is half ghost hunting, half home makeover. The author captures the protagonist’s voice perfectly and seemingly effortlessly - within a few pages, you know her so well. This story surprised me several times - I thought I knew where it was going more than once and I was wrong each time, and happier for being so. 

Are the ghosts on the show real or manufactured? I’m not going to spoil you, you’ll just have to read it yourself. Go out and get this book ASAP!