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.
Tag: genre-lgbt
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.
We Set the Dark on Fire, by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Dystopian YA fiction, nicely done in that it’s not in-your-face preachy. Daniela Vargas is one of the top graduates in an elite school that trains women for service to powerful men – but in an important role, either as his powerful social and household counterpart, or as the mother of his future children. Daniela, however, has a secret past; her documents were forged by her family, who were desperate that their child escape a future in the abused lower classes. Naturally Daniela’s secret becomes a cudgel, as forces in the rebellion force her to work with them or lose everything. I really liked how this book was executed; the dystopia was subtly done, as was Daniela’s internal conflict between clinging to privilege and risking everything. Warning: cliffhanger ending.
Blackfish City, by Sam J. Miller
This is a post-apocalyptic (or more accurately, during-apocalyptic) cyberpunk novel, which focuses so much on humanity that as a reader, I almost stopped seeing the cyberpunk altogether. It’s almost the opposite of William Gibson type novels, in which the humans are cyphers and the tech is cool; Miller’s humans’ emotions are deep and raw, and the fact that they live in a futuristic city run by mysterious AIs is just another part of their daily lives (though it’s also a huge part of the story). The geothermal city of Qaanaaq, an arctic refuge for those escaping the wars and chaos of a warming world, is visited by a mysterious woman who may or may not be bonded to an orca through exotic and secret technology; meanwhile, ordinary citizens are afflicted by a disease called “the breaks,” which bombard them with glimpses of strangers’ lives. Miller weaves these disparate threads together in a fast-moving and urgent story that also becomes a commentary on how those in political or economic power can dehumanize others, and the importance of family and community in a world being torn apart by climate change.
Butter Honey Pig Bread, by Francesca Ekwuyasi
An intergenerational diaspora story set in Nigeria and Canada. Featuring Kambirinachi, an ogbanje (a spirit that brings misery to a family by being repeatedly born and dying in childbirth) who rebelled against her nature and defiantly remained alive to love her family; and her twin daughters Taiye and Kehinde, who were close as children but distant as adults. I liked the pace of this story, which moved back and forth in time to explore the trauma behind the characters, and also to let the reader watch their healing, patiently aided by the friends they make along the way. I also liked the role that food played in the story, and the comfort the characters found in both preparing and sharing meals. Great themes in this novel, beautiful writing.
Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo
In the gilded age of cinema, as beautiful men and women make sacrifices to the occult powers that control Hollywood in a bid for literal stardom, a young Chinese-American girl yearns for fame… but she knows the kinds of roles that Hollywood has in mind for people who look like her, and the extra problems that face people who are queer like her, and she is determined to find her own way through. It’s old conflicts dressed up in magic, racism and sexism and the powerlessness of young women amplified by blood sacrifice and hungry monsters and the addictive, dangerous thrall of the Wild Hunt. Readers who love beautiful language and exotic magics will love this book; readers who want their magic to be logical, and their characters to be transparent about their motives, may be disappointed.
Stay and Fight, by Madeline ffitch
A modern, queer take on an unconventional Appalachian family. Touches on politics, pipelines, class tensions, materialism, and how the government punishes poverty… but never loses the essential story of how very different characters form a bond between one another, uniting against the world. Each chapter shifts you into a different POV, which adds extra dimension to their often-barbed exchanges with one another. The theme really drives home the title (as does a brief conversation between two children about the difference between trust and loyalty): the only way to demonstrate commitment to one’s family is to stay and fight.
Scorpica, by G.R. Macallister
Thoroughly awesome book set in a matriarchal society, in which five queendoms exist in an uneasy balance of power. Scorpica is the martial queendom, where girls are trained to battle and boys are given over to other queendoms to raise. I absolutely loved the various queendoms and their clashing cultures, illustrations of the various ways that matriarchies would rule. Great pacing, building towards a climactic ending; the worst thing about this book was finding out that it was actually only published earlier this year, and that I would have to wait for further sequels to arrive.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers
A book of found family, in which the family is a hardworking multispecies crew of a starship. The sheer inventiveness of the alien characteristics and biology was amazing; however, Chambers I think falls into the trap of loving her characters too much to let anything bad happen to them, which blunts the edge of some of the more exciting bits. Still, great characters and universe and I would love to follow the series further.
Point of Knives, by Melissa Scott
Novella in the world of Astreiant, set after Point of Hopes. Honestly I wasn’t impressed with this one either, may abandon the series despite its easy availability at the library. After their meet-cute in the first novel, the two main characters have taken up with each other with no fanfare whatsoever; their cop-vs-criminal role conflict is given barely a mention and once again the author seems more concerned with setting the scene than telling the story.