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!

The Far Reaches: Stories to take you out of this world by James S. A. Corey, Veronica Roth, Rebecca Roanhorse, Ann Leckie, Nnedi Okorafor, & John Scalzi

 

As I have said many times before, I am not the type of person who usually seeks out anthologies- I much prefer single author short story collections. But if all anthologies were like The Far Reaches, I would have to change my tune. This collection of six short stories bundled together by Amazon by a bunch of heavy hitters did not disappoint. Ann Leckie, a favorite of mine, wrote another delightfully alien tale from the aliens’ point of view, reminiscent of her story Lake of Souls. John Scalzi was in introspective mode, rather than snarky mode, and I wish more of his recent output had been as amazing as this. I was most pleasantly surprised by the Veronica Roth story, which was a fun mystery set aboard an interstellar cruise ship. I haven’t read much by her before but I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. 

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

The Knife and the Serpent by Tim Pratt

 

A few years ago, I read the Axiom trilogy by Tim Pratt based upon a recommendation from Seanan McGuire’s twitter feed. It was fun space opera, but not earth shattering or momentous. Sometimes, that’s all I’m looking for in a book. As the series went on, it got a little worse, a little more contrived, but I still enjoyed it. 

So when I saw that he had The Knife and the Serpent, a new space opera, coming out, I requested (and was granted) an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Honestly? It was fine. I enjoyed it. It was diverting. A little less space opera and a little more multiversal action story than I would have preferred. But it was no great tale. 

The book alternates narrators between a man who slowly comes to learn that his girlfriend is a super spy from an alternate reality and a woman (who happens to be his ex-girlfriend), who is secretly the heir to an evil fortune in a different alternate reality. 

The author described this book as a kitchen sink type book in which he threw in a ton of ideas, and it shows. They don’t all work together but it’s not bad. I could’ve used less discussion of the male lead’s submissive sexual kinks, which didn’t really feel plot relevant and kind of felt awkward in a middle school kind of way. 

In addition, the second narrator is just a terrible, terrible person. She apparently has no moral compass, is happy to ally herself with her grandmother’s murderer, and late in the book commits mass murder herself with zero remorse. She was utterly unlikeable. I think the book would’ve been stronger if it had established that she didn’t care what happened in an alternate reality because she couldn’t wrap her mind about it and didn’t believe those people to be real. That is a possible interpretation for her actions but it is not explicit and the book is poorer for that. 

I don’t mean to complain. This book would make a fine beach book or airport book. It is just not doing anything new or particularly interesting. 

The Book of Ile-Rien by Martha Wells

I think maybe I just only love Murderbot and not Martha Wells’s fantasy books?

After all, we all love Murderbot, right? Murderbot is one of the absolute best characters to come out of SF in years. I remember when I read the description of Martha Wells’s All Systems Red and thought to myself “I’ve got to put that on hold at the library!”  And I was right - it was excellent. I have eagerly awaited each new Murderbot book. So I was very excited when NetGalley and tordotcom gave me an eARC of The Book of Ile-Rien, a republishing of The Element of Fire and The Death of the Necromancer, two of Martha Wells’s earlier novels set in the same world, in exchange for an honest review. 

This was not my first foray into Ms. Wells’s fantasy novels - I had previously read The Cloud Roads and The Witch King, both of which were fine, neither of which blew me away. But I was surprised at how bored I felt reading these novels. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and I didn’t enjoy the setting, either. I prefer my fantasy worlds to not have guns in them, and that may have been a part of my dislike, but I also felt that the chapters were too long and the characters were not likeable. I didn’t want to spend time with them, or in this world. I’m sure there is an audience out there for these novels, but it isn’t me. 

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

 

This was the best new release I have read in 2024 so far and it will be on my Hugo ballot for sure. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

In the past 3-4 years, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon. 

Ms. Vernon is the author of the Hamster Princess books, which both of my daughters have enjoyed (as have I!). Those books were my introduction to her, along with her social media presence, which I found through Seanan McGuire. 

Ordinarily, I don’t like horror. I never wanted to watch scary movies as a kid. I got nightmares from E.T.  But based on recommendations I read the Twisted Ones and The Holllow Places and I realized that I loved Ms. Vernon’s writing and I could make it through the scary parts unscathed with her as my guide. 

I started devouring her back catalog and putting all new releases on hold at the library.  I have subscribed to her Patreon and I convinced my wife to read Nettle and Bone, which she loved (as did I). 

I loved Thornhedge last year and was delighted when it was nominated for the Hugo, and I was very excited when I heard she had a new book out in 2024, A Sorceress Comes to Call. I was even more excited when I got an audiobook eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This new book, I believe, is based on the Goose Girl fairy tale, but I don’t know that one, so I can’t tell how much relates directly to the source material. Our main character, Cordelia, slowly comes to realize that her mother is an evil sorceress. Well, she always knew she was kind of evil but the extent of it (and the sorcery) are more of a reveal. When her mother is in need of a new man to control, they end up at the house of the Squire and his sister Hester, the other main character, who feels a sense of Doom from Cordelia’s mother but is surprised when she learns the extent of the danger. 

This book was wonderful. Ursula Vernon perfectly captured the scared naïveté of a sheltered teenager equally well with the savvy canniness of a middle-aged woman who knows she is smart and overlooked. Every minor character, from the friends to the servants, are well rounded and fleshed out. This was a story I could have lived in forever. 

There were two narrators in the book, but I didn’t feel like it needed both. I understand that they were there to switch off from Hester’s and Cordelia’s perspectives, but it didn’t really work for me here. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills

 

I first encountered Samantha Mills when her story, Rabbit Test, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved that story so much - it was incredibly well written and was number one on my ballot. (Regardless of what we later learned about how the 2023 Hugo nomination was hijacked, that story was amazing and it will always be a Hugo winner in my mind.)

After reading that story, I was excited when I found out that Ms. Mills had a first novel coming out, and I was even more excited when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

The book starts when the protagonist, a member of a fascist warrior caste, goes easy on someone in possession of forbidden material, after which she is caught,  her bio mechanical wings are stripped from her, and she is cast down. She then ends up connected with a bunch of young dissidents committed to bringing about positive change through violence. 

The book alternates between this present time frame and the past, explaining how the protagonist left her scholar household to join the warrior caste. 

The entire story is set in a city state organized by a caste system in which each of the five groups worships one of five gods that may or may not be alien visitors in suspended animation. 

The world building is intriguing and tell you just enough to leave you wanting more. 

The split narrative didn’t work for me exactly as intended - I loved the past timeframe so much that the present time frame felt boring and shallow by comparison. But maybe that’s just me. 

In any event, I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to read more from Samantha Mills in the future!

We Speak Through The Mountain by Premee Mohamed

Four years ago, I wrote in a review of Premee Mohamed’s first book: “After reading this book, I will definitely pick up the next book by Premee Mohamed.  This author has a great deal of potential and I look forward to seeing what else she writes.” I am so glad I stuck with this author because she has improved immensely and now she is a must-read when I see she has something new out.

When NetGalley listed this new novella by Ms. Mohamed, I was happy to check it out, and I was even happier when I realized it was a sequel to The Annual Migration of Clouds, a post-apocalyptic novella that was set at a repurposed university where survivors were ekeing out an existence and many people were infected with a parasite of some sort that changes their behavior to push self-preservation.  In that book, Reid was offered acceptance into a college far away that some people thought did not actually exist.  (Frankly, I as a reader had my doubts.)

This sequel picks up where the last one ended, and Reid makes it to the college! There is the inevitable cultural shock between her and her classmates and professors who grew up in safety and seclusion without the parasite and the poverty Reid came from. Once again, the story went in some directions I wasn’t expecting. 

My worldbuilding concerns from the first book are alleviated here to a large extent, as Reid starts to uncover some of the secrets of how her world is working. Once again the character work and evocative descriptions are standouts.  

If this is the end of the series, I could be satisfied, but I would love to see where else this story goes. Here’s hoping for more! 

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

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

Like many people, I am sure, I fell in love with John Wiswell’s writing when I read his story “Open House on Haunted Hill”, which blew me away. So I was thrilled when I found out he had a debut novel coming out, and even more excited when DAW gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I adored this book. It is the story of a monster who falls in love, but it is so much more than that. Shesheshen, the monster, doesn’t have a human idea of love or relationships, yet she comes across as eminently relatable. Her romance of Homily is truly wonderful, and her pet bear Blueberry is a delight. Shesheshen’s worldview, while somewhat bloodthirsty, is refreshing and feels very true. 

This book kept surprising me. I honestly did not see the plot twists coming and every single time I was like “no way!” when, in hindsight, I should have seen the foreshadowing. 

Everyone who loves love or monsters should go buy this book. It was that good. 

Lake of Souls by Ann Leckie

I love single-author short story collections. I really enjoyed getting to see an author I like and admire flex their muscles in different ways. So I was very excited to get an eARC of Ann Leckie’s short story collection, Lake of Souls, from Orbit and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I have loved Ann Leckie’s writing from the first time I read Ancillary Justice (which I have reread and listened to the audiobook of several times). I so enjoyed the Imperial Radch universe and adored each book in that trilogy. Provenance surprised me by being so different while still being in that universe and being so wonderful and I thought Translation State was hands down the best 2023 novel I read last year. I also very much enjoyed The Raven Tower and thought Ms. Leckie was classy and generous when she demurred and turned down a Hugo nomination for it. 

I was not disappointed by this collection. Every story is a gem. Some of them didn’t click perfectly with me, but i thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. The titular story, Lake of Souls, was the epitome of what good, intelligent SF can be and it has stuck with me ever since I read it.

I cannot recommend this collection highly enough. 

Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire

 

This book moved me in several ways. I got very mad, and very sad. It’s just that good!

I love Seanan McGuire’s body of work.  (Note: I review a bunch of her books so I am copying part of some of my other reviews here to save time.). She has quickly become my favorite living writer and I feel very lucky that she is so prolific. I was first introduced to her work when her book Parasite, written as Mira Grant, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved it and quickly devoured the Newsflesh series before I realized that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire were the same person. 

I started reading her works under her own name, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, which is amazing, but I picked it because I was intimidated by her long running October Daye series. When Incryptid was nominated for the Best Series Hugo in 2018, I dove into that and I loved it! It is probably my second favorite series by McGuire (Velveteen Vs. holds a special place in my heart). 

I was overjoyed when DAW and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of the latest Incryptid book, Aftermarket Afterlife, in exchange for an honest review. Finally the fight with the Covenant, long promised since the ending of Chaos Choreography when Verity outed the family on national TV, was here! This has been building for so long, and I was happy to get an earthbound narrative after several reality-hopping adventures in previous books. 

The problem with long-promised fights is that they come with casualties. I’m not going to spoil things but this is where the mad and the sad will come from. There are some characters for whom I repeatedly thought “how will they go on?” at different points in the book. 

We also have a new narrator this time around - Mary the ghost babysitter has a star turn! With her ghostly traveling abilities, Mary is a logical choice for this role in a globetrotting story, and, thanks to being a Patreon supporter, I have already had a chance to read alot of Mary’s backstory, which made this novel even richer. 

This is a wonderful, wonderful book. A culmination of much that has come before, it lays several avenues open for the future. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed

Four years ago, I wrote in a review of Premee Mohamed’s first book: “After reading this book, I will definitely pick up the next book by Premee Mohamed.  This author has a great deal of potential and I look forward to seeing what else she writes.” I am so glad I stuck with this author because The Butcher of the Forest is beautiful, lyrical, hear-wrenching, and wonderful. 

This is not the first book by Ms. Mohamed that I enjoyed - I liked The Annual Migration of Clouds a great deal and I am looking forward to the sequel coming out soon. But this book spoke to my heart. 

This novella has a dark fairy tale vibe - a woman is called upon by an evil tyrant to venture into a haunted fey forest to retrieve his lost children. But that plot description doesn’t do this book justice. In a few paragraphs the author can capture a mood and paint a picture that entrances and ensnares the reader. The language in this book a gorgeous and brutal. The sense of dread is palpable. I am unable to put into words how enjoyable the act of reading this book was. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

What Feasts At Night by T. Kingfisher

In the past 3-4 years, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon. 

Ms. Vernon is the author of the Hamster Princess books, which both of my daughters have enjoyed (as have I!). Those books were my introduction to her, along with her social media presence, which I found through Seanan McGuire. 

Ordinarily, I don’t like horror. I never wanted to watch scary movies as a kid. I got nightmares from E.T.  But based on recommendations I read the Twisted Ones and The Holllow Places and I realized that I loved Ms. Vernon’s writing and I could make it through the scary parts unscathed with her as my guide. 

I started devouring her back catalog and putting all new releases on hold at the library.  I have subscribed to her Patreon and I convinced my wife to read Nettle and Bone, which she loved (as did I). 

I really enjoyed What Moves the Dead when it came out - I adored Angus and Ms. Potter and I thought Alex Easton was one of the most interesting, enjoyable protagonists in a Kingfisher book I had ever seen. (Toadling is still my favorite, I think). I didn’t remember the original Poe story that influenced it, but my only complaint about that book was that it was too short. 

So I was thrilled when I found out that a sequel was coming and even more thrilled when I got an audiobook eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This new book, I believe, is not based on a Poe story but is an original creation. And it is wonderful! I was so happy to see Ms. Potter and Angus again, the Widow was my new favorite character, and the story was creepy in all the best ways. The descriptions of Alex’s PTSD feel very real. Once again, my only complaint is that it was too short! 

I really liked the narrator as well. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Power to Yield and Other Stories by Bogi Takács

I first became aware of Bogi Takács when e was nominated for the Hugo award for best fan writer. I knew that e also wrote short stories, but I don’t read a lot of short stories in magazines or on websites, so I hadn’t encountered eir fiction before. But I LOVE a solo author short fiction collection so I jumped at a chance to request Power to Yield and Other Stories when I saw it on NetGalley. 

There is a mix of sci fi, fantasy, and some science fantasy in this collection and I enjoyed most all of them! Some made me think and some made my heart sing. My favorite story involved a mother who was stuck in the form of a houseplant while her child was preparing to be bar mitzvahed. It really captured the humanity in a profound yet quiet way that I really enjoyed. The title story in the collection, Power to Yield, was a little too violent and uncomfortable for my tastes, but I understand that that may have been part of the reason for the story. It still left me feeling icky. 

All in all, I am very glad I read this collection and I look forward to reading more stories by Bogi Takács. 

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for a fair review.