The title is pretty, but should really reference the girl who jumped into the sea. Every year a beautiful woman is sacrificed to pacify the Sea God, whose storms ravage the villages; this year, the woman selected to be the Sea God’s bride is Shim Cheong, beloved of Mina’s brother. In anger and indignation, Mina throws herself into the sea in Shim Cheong’s place. Once in the spirit world, she finds unlikely allies who help her tell the gods exactly what she thinks of their neglect of humanity’s prayers. Mina’s narrative voice is wonderful, and the story moves along well.
Month: November 2022
Gallant, by V.E. Schwab
Spooky and atmospheric. Olivia, who cannot make sounds and has to communicate through sign language, is being raised at an orphanage for girls; she has nothing of her parents except her mother’s old diary. Unexpectedly, a letter arrives inviting her to her ancestral home of Gallant, a place her mother’s diary explicitly warns her against visiting. Of course she goes anyway, and uncovers deep dark family secrets. Although the writing is beautiful and creepy, the plot itself is fairly straightforward and predictable; the one little twist was the identity of Olivia’s father, which I thought was a nice touch. None of the characters grow or change much as they march through this gothic tale; the point is to defeat the monster, not to explore anyone’s inner development.
For All the Tea in China: Espionage, Empire and the Secret Formula for the World’s Favourite Drink, by Sarah Rose
History, an absolutely fascinating look at the lengths the British went to in order to gain access to Chinese tea, and the ways in which tea made empire possible. The story is centered around Robert Fortune, a real life frontier botanist employed by the East India Company, who (despite internal wrangling within the Company as well as within the botanist world) ventured deep into the hinterlands of China and smuggled out tea plants and seeds to the rest of the world, breaking China’s monopoly. Rose also uses Britain’s tea trade as a jumping-off point to explore colonization, opium, and how tea made empire possible. My favorite quote: “What the world has sought when it sips a cup of tea is a mild effect, a high with neither lift nor letdown, a calming alertness, a drink of moods. What Fortune found in Wuyi Shan was Britain’s reigning temper: the thrill to conquer, but politely.”
Honey & Spice, by Bolu Babalola
Sassy, delightful rom-com. Undergrad Kiki, smart and cynical, runs a radio show encouraging women to stand up to toxic masculinity… which is why it’s problematic when she’s seen kissing Malakai, one of the more notorious players on campus. When she tries to figure out how she can finagle her relationship with him to best protect her image, she finds him to be unexpectedly helpful. The characters trade brilliant barbs and snappy comebacks at a dizzying pace, and although the story follows a very typical romance arc, it also manages to explore themes of race, identity, self-image, public image, and friendship along the way. Super fun.
At the Feet of the Sun, by Victoria Goddard
Sequel to The Hands of the Emperor, which is one of my favorite books of all time and therefore admittedly a hard act to follow. Sadly, I found this one a bit of a drag. Both Cliopher and the former Emperor, layered and powerful characters from the previous books, find themselves struggling to come to terms with their new circumstances and relationship, which is doubly frustrating when you consider how effortlessly they managed to communicate in the prequel. Cliopher’s journey also expands, from reclaiming the myths of his heritage to actually expanding them, which (although beautifully rendered by Goddard) didn’t really work for me either. Although I liked the characters’ arcs, I feel like they could have gotten to the same place with half the melodrama.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess, by Sue Lynn Tan
Uses the legend of Chang’e, the Chinese Moon Goddess, as a jumping-off point. Xingyin, daughter of the imprisoned Chang’e, sets off on a quest to free her mother. I almost didn’t get past the beginning, in which Xingyin’s escape felt overwrought and melodramatic; however, as she bravely inserts herself into the court of the Celestial Empire, learns to be a warrior, and forges her own uncompromising way forward, I found myself really enjoying the story. The book reads like a wuxia drama, all silk and steel and smoldering glances, with the characters preoccupied with plotting and honor, and it’s such fun. Slow start, great finish. Apparently there’s a sequel but this book stands alone well.
This Poison Heart, by Kalynn Bayron
YA, urban (and small town rural) fantasy. Briseis Greene runs a flower shop in Brooklyn with her moms, and hides a secret: she has a magical ability with plants that she can only partially control. One day she receives news that her birth family has left her with a mysterious garden estate in the country, and she begins to uncover more than she ever could have known about her background; as she comes into her true power, threats coalesce around her. I found the pacing uneven and the events somewhat unrealistic, but I loved Briseis’ narrative voice and her relationship with her mothers (and the constant references to Get Out). Cliffhanger ending into the next book.
Someone in Time: Tales of Time Crossed Romance, ed. Jonathan Strahan
Short story collection, all about time traveling and falling in love. Some authors took the assignment literally (Theodora Goss’s A Letter to Merlin, in which time-traveling agents, sent to influence the behavior of historical figures, try to communicate with one another); others take a more roundabout route (Zen Cho’s The Past Life Reconstruction Service, in which people get to relive their past lives in search of answers for their present lives). Other standouts were Sam J. Miller’s Unabashed, or: Jackson, Whose Cowardice Tore a Hole in the Chronoverse, a poignant and unforgettable wail of pain; and Time Gypsy by Ellen Klages, which creates one of those beautiful perfect cause-and-effect time-travel loops while also pulling in themes of feminism, gay rights, and found family. Really great collection overall.
Empire of Pain: the Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty, by Patrick Radden Keefe
This book follows three generations of the Sackler family as they make their fortune, spread their wealth around via conspicuous philanthropy, and then find themselves defending their name from the fallout of their actions. Keefe creates in-depth profiles of each of the Sacklers, using their own words as well as firsthand accounts from their friends, associates, and employees, to trace their evolution as people as well as pharmaceutical advertisers. The writing is compelling and increasingly enraging, especially as the account moves into the OxyContin years; with an avalanche of damning facts, the book lays bare the Sacklers’ singleminded pursuit of profit even as their culpability in the nation’s opioid crisis becomes impossible to ignore.
A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman
I wasn’t aware that this was being made into a movie, but that explains why the hold list for it was so long. I was initially predisposed to roll my eyes at this book, since the “curmudgeon learns to love life because of his wacky neighbors” premise was so obvious right off the bat… but the execution was phenomenal, revelations and subtle growth and character background dropped gracefully into the text, until a whole picture is painted around you and you find yourself rooting hard for the characters in their fight against unfairness and an uncaring bureaucracy. Very sweet read.