This book had all the elements of a story that would hook me: a centuries-old heroine with powers from Chinese mythology, a broodingly handsome French elf secret agent, danger and family drama … but the writing felt so juvenile, it was really hard to get into it. The main characters giggled and bantered like awkward teenagers, not immensely powerful immortal beings, and the tell-don’t-show storytelling constantly spent paragraphs on the background and relationships between characters before falling flat on a meaningless and stilted exchange. The entire first two chapters kept making me wonder if I’d missed a much better prequel, since it has to do so much explaining. Other magical characters seemed thrown in as token representation, and the villains never got any dimension at all. I did finish the book and it did eventually get better, but the characters and their conversation were never as cool as they should have been, given their powers and their supposed lifespans.
Tag: genre-fantasy
Untethered Sky, by Fonda Lee
I enjoyed this novella, but I think Lee was so taken by her concept that she neglected character building in favor of general coolness. Narrator Ester narrowly escaped a manticore attack that took half her family; her life became laser-focused towards joining the king’s mews, where rukhers tame and fly the giant rocs that are the kingdom’s only defense against the manticores. The core of the book is the dynamic between Ester’s complete devotion to her roc, and the knowledge that the roc is utterly unmoved by her affection or loyalty. The story makes occasional halfhearted forays into politics and propaganda, but Ester’s unwavering dedication to manticore murder gives her character very little room to grow. Pleasant read with very cool giant bird details, but does not feel like a complete story.
An Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson
In the town of Whimsy, elves exchange magic for items of human craft; often, the magic has a dark side. Painter Isobel has learned to be very precise with her dealings with elves, but one day makes a mistake by painting a mortal emotion that she sees in the eyes of Rook, the autumn prince. He demands that she appear in his court to answer for her crime; however, during their journey they find that things have gone very wrong in the elven lands. I really loved Rogerson’s elves, who are prickly, vain, and superficial but in their hearts crave the touching, transient beauty of mortality; I also loved Isobel’s defiant embrace of her own humanity. I rolled my eyes a bit at the relationship between Isobel and Rook, but by the end of the book could not imagine them any other way. Surprisingly good; the book just got better as it went along.
The Bone Witch, by Rin Chupeco
This book begins with a woman raising demons from skeletons, as a timid bard creeps up and begins gently drawing her story out of her; in turn, she divulges details about him that she should not know. By all rights it should have ended with their stories meeting together at the present, then proceeding together into a satisfying climax… but as her story dragged on and on, crammed with irrelevant detail and bloated with extraneous characters, I reached page 668 of 714 and realized that there was no way in this book we were going to reach the end of her story. Epic battles and inter-kingdom wars had been hinted at, and she’d barely graduated school. I felt extremely cheated and in no mood to read any further in the series. I was also not a fan of her culture, in which women with magic powers were required to train as warrior-geishas who could sing, dance, kick butt, and still simper and giggle around powerful men while entertaining them. Seriously. Meanwhile male magic-users have to join a killing squad with a high death rate. I was briefly interested when a male magic-using character showed up and wanted to train as a geisha, but we never learn where his story goes because 700 pages later we’re only a fraction done with the story. Definitely not continuing on with this series. (Unless someone tells me it gets more worthwhile.)
Ink Blood Sister Scribe, by Emma Törzs
Kudos to this book for not only being well-plotted and well-executed, but also having one of the best as-needed reveals of magic systems I’ve read in a while. The main characters are estranged sisters Esther, who left home at age 18 and never returned; and Joanna, who remained a faithful protector of their family’s library of magical books. Across the ocean, there’s also Nicholas, a Scribe whose inborn magic allows him to write more of those books, though at a severe cost to his health. Eventually, all three of them stumble together into the realization that there is way more to their separate situations than they were ever allowed to understand. Great pacing and smooth writing made this a very satisfying read.
Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull
Delightfully creepy but not too scary at any given time, which is a great balance to strike. Cautious, law-abiding Kendra and her impulsive brother Seth are dropped off at their grandparents’ for the summer; their grandfather Stan seems less than happy with this arrangement, and the children soon find out why, setting themselves up for a summer of magic, adventure, and plenty of opportunities for desperate bravery. I liked how both child and adult characters were given space to both make mistakes and learn from them, in a way that felt organic to the story and not forced. No particularly new ideas here, but very smoothly executed. Ties up the biggest conflicts at the end, but leaves lots of nice open ends for sequels.
VenCo, by Cherie Dimaline
I wanted to like this more than I actually did; the concept was great but the execution was heavy-handed and the plot essentially went nowhere. Six out of seven witches in a coven have come together, and a two-dimensional evil witchhunter (thinly veiled symbol of the patriarchy) has ramped up his efforts to hunt down the last witch before she can join them and bring about some nebulous prophesied change. The witches, who have all escaped some form or other of sexist sadness, don’t seem to have gained any particular magic from their having done so; the ones with magic seem to have had it already. Basically this was super girls-against-the-man! women have ancient and mysterious powers! which I would ordinarily be down with but there should really have been a lot more thinking going into plotting, worldbuilding, and character arcs. I stubbornly made it to the end and the payoff was… less than worth it.
In Other Lands, by Sarah Rees Brennan
Excellent book, I want to push it at all misfit teenagers (and the adults they grow up to be). It’s a self-aware portal fantasy, done super well. 13 year old Elliot, upon discovering that he can enter a magical world, immediately tries to improve it: he smuggles in ballpoint pens to use instead of quills, calls out cross-species racism, and promotes diplomacy over war. His changing relationships with his warrior peers, elf Serene and awkward scion Luke, work as a beautiful heart to the story. (Fans of the relationship dynamic in Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series will enjoy this one too.) I couldn’t wait to finish this book and also never wanted it to end.
A Gift of Dragons, by Anne McCaffrey
The kid read Dragonsong and liked it, so I went looking for more Pern material that might be suitable for young adults. This short story collection isn’t it; the stories cover bullying (The Smallest Dragonboy), reinforcing traditional gender roles (Ever the Twain), and deep dives into the series and society of Pern which I don’t feel like dragging the kid into (The Girl who Heard Dragons, Runner of Pern). Pern was a huge part of my adolescence but I feel like it might not be aging well; certainly there’s better stuff out there these days.
The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
For some reason I never read the Tiffany Aching subset of the Discworld books, so when I saw this volume at the used book store, I picked it up for the kid. He absolutely loved it and demanded more (dear Libraries ACT, you need to stock up). Tiffany is an excellent version of the practical Pratchett heroine; she pushes back aginst dogma, does her own research, and forges ahead with determination. The Wee Free Men are excellent supporting characters, as are Tiffany’s fellow countrymen. Fine middle-grade reading material, entertaining without being dogmatic.