South Asian speculative fiction, though it also touches on Nordic and other shapeshifter myths. Narrator Alok Mukherjee is a history professor who meets a mysterious figure who claims to be a half-werewolf; fascinated, Alok agrees to record the stranger’s stories, some oral and some written on human skin. As the stranger’s tale unfolds and Alok is drawn further into the fantastically violent and turbulent history, the relationship between the two of them deepens as well. I liked how the story wove together the mythologies of different cultures, and I also enjoyed how Das took time to develop Alok’s character instead of having him be a passive listener to a story far more interesting than his own life.
Tag: genre-thriller
Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang
When star author Athena Liu dies suddenly, June Hayward pockets her latest manuscript, about Chinese laborers, and then rewrites it and releases it under the name “Juniper Song” (her first and middle names). When the book becomes a smash success, June is accused of misleading people into thinking she might have Chinese ancestry, and finds herself haunted by Athena’s ghost wherever she turns. The book raises questions about racism in the publishing industry, diversity as performance, and ownership in art, but immerses it all in June’s inescapable trainwreck of an unreliable first-person narrative. There is barely a single likeable character in this book but it moves along incredibly well.
Moon of the Crusted Snow, by Waubgeshig Rice
Post-apocalyptic (though you don’t know it at the beginning) thriller, documenting the experience of a small Anishinaabe community in a reservation in northern Ontario. As the community is already pretty isolated, even more so as winter approaches, their awareness that civilization is collapsing comes slowly; first the power is cut off, then their fuel shipment never arrives. As the tribe attempts to maintain order and community safety, intruders escaping the crumbling south arrive and throw things into disarray. The narrator, a quiet, solid hunter named Evan Whitesky, quietly maintains family and community ties even as he begins to suspect the new arrivals of more sinister intentions. Well-paced, smoothly written.
Nyxia, by Scott Reintgen
This is basically the Hunger Games, but in space. A bunch of desperate teenagers are recruited by an unscrupulous corporation to mine nyxia, a magical substance on an alien planet whose properties stretch the limits of credulity; during the space journey over, they are subjected to deadly competition with one another for the limited number of spaces available. I almost put this down quite a few times because the corporate overlords were so evil, the teens so tortured, and the magical nyxia so nonsensical that I couldn’t keep from rolling my eyes at everything. Still, the writing and characterization were just good enough that I made it to the end, where of course even more plot twists left plenty of issues for the sequel.
Last Call, by Tim Powers
Recommended by J because I liked Edwards’ Tarot Sequence, and I can definitely see the similarities – except whereas Edwards’ books are a warm hug, Powers’ book is more of a morbid chill. Yes, there’s a found family; yes, there’s magic tied to cards; yes, there’s a mysterious magic cabal that runs everything… but the engine that runs it all is fueled by deception, death, and sacrifice, and everything is dark and creepy and full of pain. The inevitability of the characters’ paths brings to mind Seanan McGuire’s Seasonal Fears, in which everyone has a predetermined role to play, and their only choice is how wholeheartedly to embrace it; there’s no way to sit out the game, and the only way to survive is to win.
The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd
I’m not a cartography nerd but I do appreciate a well-crafted map. Nell Young, the heroine of this book, is an extremely Nancy Drew type who can’t leave well enough alone; her discovery of a seemingly worthless old map upends her life and suddenly she’s running from a shadowy cabal of creepy map enthusiasts. Her investigations uncover deep secrets in her parents’ past, and uses the idea of copyright traps as a jumping-off point. I thought the plot got a little forced here and there, and the writing was a little amateurish in places, but I loved the ideas.
Fire Boy, by Sami Shah
For a novel marketed as YA, this was super violent. I found it jarring to alternate between scenes of graphic sex and torture and the main character’s stammering shyness when attempting to ask out his crush. Set in Pakistan, this novel features teenager Wahid, who just wants to play D&D with his mates and get up the courage to talk to the pretty girl in his class; he doesn’t know why he can see djinn and would rather not think about that part of his life. Unfortunately, supernatural forces come after him anyway, threatening his friends, and he finds himself navigating many of Karachi’s darker and more magical elements in an attempt to save them. Many, many loose ends left dangling for the sequel.
The Last Sun, by K.D. Edwards
I thought from the title this might be some sort of dystopian SF ecological planetary disaster, but instead it’s a trippy urban fantasy in which each Arcana of the Tarot is personified as a supernaturally powerful mobster. The Arcana reside in the gritty, violent city of New Atlantis, existing in an unsteady power balance, each answerable only to the others. Rune Saint John, last surviving scion of the fallen Sun court, fights for survival and sanity in a world determined to make it difficult for him, picking up friends and enemies along the way. I loved the portrayal of the interpersonal relationships in this book, as well as the characterizations of the powerful Arcana. Good wrap-up at the end with plenty of threads left hanging for the sequel.
Rogue Ghosts & Other Miscreants, by Annette Marie and Rob Jacobsen, read by Iggy Toma
Book 3 of the “Warped” sub-series of Marie’s Guild Codex, this installment features some character growth from rookie agent Kit Morris, helped along by his long-suffering partner and a surprise guest from the main series. Kit’s narration is priceless as usual, full of hilarious one-liners, and Toma hits the perfect irreverent tone for the narration. Pretty good tie-in back to the main series at the end of the book, as well.
Notes from the Burning Age, by Claire North
This is dystopian fiction, a kind of anti-Becky Chambers vision of the future in which humanity destroys the world, understands why and how it was destroyed, and hurtles towards doing it again anyway. Narrator Ven once belonged to the priesthood, where he interprets and sorts data excavated from the past, from trivial information like selfies and pictures of food, to more dangerous and forbidden knowledge like political screeds and diagrams of nuclear weapons. This is a very show-don’t-tell book, and Ven keeps secrets from the reader as well as from the people around him. The book builds patiently, the postapocalyptic world drawn with gorgeous detail, while Ven sinks deeper and deeper into his own head as he tries to grasp the complexities of the people around him. For a long time I didn’t know where this book was going, and then about a third of the way through it got very compelling. Slow start, amazing finish.