Sequel to Empire of Sand; the first book was good, and this one is even better. Arwa’s sister shook the foundations of the empire in the previous book, and in this one, Arwa is left trying to pick a safe path through the crumbling Empire. Arwa and her sister Mehr are very different people: Mehr rebelled and embraced her status as a low-caste tribesperson, whereas Arwa tried to hide her past and blend in. Like her sister, she finds herself in a position to use her background for the greater good, but her relationship with her heritage is fraught. I loved her journey, and how it illustrated the impact of cultural erasure on the descendants of persecuted peoples.
Tag: genre-fantasy
Bitter, by Akwaeke Emezi
Prequel to the amazing novel Pet, but unfortunately I think it’s not as strong or as focused. Narrator Bitter has survived trauma to find solace in art, but finds it hard to justify being an artist in a world full of injustice, corporate greed, and police brutality, especially when practically all of her friends have joined an implausibly well-organized resistance movement in which teens demonstrate against societal racism. Much of the book is spent on Bitter’s self-doubt; it makes the otherworldly spirits and fast-paced action that dominate the last quarter of the book seem jarring. Lots of really piercing commentary on social injustice and human nature, but unfortunately the book doesn’t come together smoothly for me.
The Cloud Roads, by Martha Wells
It’s been awhile since I read a fantasy world this fearlessly inventive. Moon can shapeshift into something with scales, wings, and talons, but no one else in the village can, so he hides it. However, when he’s banished and encounters his own species, he finds himself a misfit among them as well. Pretty standard trope, but before you know it you’re drawn deep into an incredibly detailed and alien ecology and culture, where very different rules apply and like Moon you have to figure out how things fit together. Moon is a very relatable hero, someone who hates bullies but also hates fights, who just wants to be left alone but also needs other people. Like Murderbot (Wells’ other hero that I’ve read), he prefers to process his emotions quietly, on his own, rather than talk to anyone about them, and as his history unspools you come to understand why. Great character work alongside really cool worldbuilding.
Point of Hopes, by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
I think I got this off a list of LGBT-friendly fantasy novels, but if the two leads show any kind of romantic interest in one another… it’s not in this book. It’s not even a slow burn love story, but more of a slow burn friendship story growing out of mutual respect. Policeman (or “pointsman”) Rathe is trying to investigate a spate of missing children across the city, while retired soldier Eslingen is just trying to find a job under trying circumstances. The mystery is high stakes but low urgency; it feels like the authors’ focus is more on establishing the world and its magical timekeeping structure, rather than actually chasing down the criminals. The plot doesn’t pick up until the last quarter or so of the book, after all kinds of unnecessary fiddling around by the main characters.
The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard
One line summary: fallen angel turf wars in war-torn Paris. We start with an angel literally falling from heaven, reentry burning up her feathers, the landing breaking her bones; then we shift to the viewpoint of street gangs hurrying to harvest her body parts for magic; then abrupt shift again to another fallen angel, one who heads up one of the Houses of fallen angels and gifted humans which exist in a tense standoff with other similar Houses. The book is heavily atmospheric, with gorgeous passages lingering on the postwar ruin of Paris and the otherworldly beauty of the angels; unfortunately, the plot is confusing and opaque, and the constant viewpoint shifts don’t help. The main character is Phillippe, a former conscript from Vietnam whose powers came from the Jade Emperor; he unwillingly aids the angels in figuring out a murder whose repercussions threaten to bring down one of the main Houses (and also wraps in figures from Greek myth, because why not). I think the major weakness in this book is the lack of character development; de Bodard creates some beautiful characters (one might say too many) but their personalities are static, grating off one another in the same way throughout the entire book. In the end, even though literally earthshaking events have taken place, you don’t really get the feeling that anything has really changed.
Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, by Kim Fu
The first short story of this collection just crushed me. “Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867” is about a person who recently lost their mother and just wants to see them again in a simulation. Unfortunately, company policy is to not show clients dead people, lest they get addicted to the experience and confuse reality with fantasy. It’s all in dialogue and the tone is handled brilliantly. The rest of the stories were perfectly good, with themes of normalcy shading to insidious creepiness with societal commentary on the side, but in my opinion none of them matched the first one for sheer punch. Still, a really impressive collection overall; will definitely be keeping an eye out for other works by Fu.
Blackcurrant Fool, by Victoria Goddard
Book 4 of Greenwing and Dart; how silly I was to think that all of Jemis Greenwing’s problems were resolved in the previous book. He and Dart travel to a bigger city, where corruption simmers beneath the surface and opposing groups jockey for power; all they want is to do their business and be gone, but Jemis’ vindictive ex-girlfriend from university has gained quite a position of influence in the city and isn’t as interested in putting the past behind her. They find themselves entangled in a tricky situation where Jemis’ doctoral dissertation on architectural poetry, and his vulnerability to a dangerous drug, merge to move the story in unexpectedly poignant and urgent ways. I loved this but the plot definitely took an interesting turn towards the end (and there are still so many unanswered questions about the city). I’ve been trying to parcel out the Greenwing and Dart books slowly, so as to savor them, but it’s going to be hard to wait an entire month before I pull up the next one.
Stone Speaks to Stone, by Victoria Goddard
Novella, book (as the author says) 1.5 of Greenwing and Dart, though I liked having read it between 3 and 4; it fits a lot better there. This one is about Mad Jack Greenwing, Jemis Greenwing’s father, and details his heroics during one part of the war. I liked how Jack’s actions were unquestionably brave, but his internal narration made it clear how much effort it took for him to put himself in danger, knowing he had a wife and young son back home.
Empire of Sand, by Tasha Suri
This universe of this book is well-crafted and interesting but the theme is super dark, almost unrelentingly dark; the heroine’s determination to survive, to find small victories, was what kept the read going. Mehr is the Governor’s daughter and a nobleman, but she is also the second-class daughter of his first wife, who belonged to a tribe of magic-users that is being vilified and forced from the empire. She lashes out at her situation by performing some of her mother’s forbidden magic, and attracts the attention of dangerous people, which places everyone she loves in jeopardy. Because she never stops fighting, her character arc is actually not the interesting one; instead, it’s the man that she meets partway through the book, whose journey was even darker than hers, who grows and develops the most because of her intervention. Very smooth writing; I liked the themes, which revolve around familial relationships, compromises, and the choices people make when they need to stay true to themselves.
Phoenix Extravagant, by Yoon Ha Lee
The narrator in this book, Gyen Jebi, is a nonbinary artist who just wants to make art and would rather ignore the intricacies of politics and war, which allows the author to paper over a lot of the details of strategy and occupation. Jebi is a native of an alternate version of Korea, in a region under the control of an alternate version of Japan; as an alt-Korean, they find themselves without employment options as the alt-Japanese crack down on the local culture and language. To their militant sister’s dismay, they pursue a position with the local government, and find themselves unwillingly helping the war effort against their own people; no spoilers but it’s a really pointed reference to cultural erasure committed by colonizers. Jebi tries to find ways to express their rebellion, despite their pacifist artistic temperament and their inconvenient attraction to a certain deadly swordswoman. I really liked the characters, particularly the mecha steampunk (silkpunk?) dragon which reminded me a lot of Temeraire; pity it didn’t show up until quite a ways into the book. Although it would have been easy to make the rebellion into the good guys fighting against the occupiers for freedom, the author instead turns the book into a denunciation of war. Both sides are problematic, violence is terrible, and innocent dragons and dreamy artists are the ones who are the most unready to deal.