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Starred Review: Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson

Jun 292021
 

Kirkus: When magic and illusion collide, anything is possible.

Sixteen-year-old Jack, magician’s assistant and pickpocket, is ready to steal the show—and anything else he can get his hands on—when the Enchantress, aka Evangeline Dubois, magician, con artist, and his guardian, sets her eyes on the 1909 Seattle World’s Fair. At the same time, 16-year-old Wilhelm, a boy with the ability to magically transport himself and others, is forced to perform there by Teddy, his abusive captor. Teddy has plans to use Wil’s gifts to pull off the ultimate heist, and his desire for notoriety results in a plan in which the two masquerade as a magician and his assistant, causing Jack’s and Wil’s worlds to collide. With the help of street-smart dancer Ruth and clever Jessamy, the boys examine the abuses they suffer and work to build a stable life together. Like all good magic acts, the novel will keep readers on the edges of their seats as they follow the twists and double-crosses that fill the lives of con artists and magicians. The book flawlessly combines magic and suspense in a well-crafted heist story that’s sweetly sprinkled with queer romances. A final unanswered question hints at a sequel and will have readers shouting for an encore. Ruth is Black; all other main characters are White. Jack, Wil, Ruth, and Jessamy are openly queer.

A delight.

 June 29, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed

Jun 282021
 

Publishers Weekly: In gorgeous prose, Mohamed (Beneath the Rising) conjures a post–climate apocalypse future in which “the chain of knowledge and study” has broken and humanity “live[s] in the scattered links that remain.” With few resources left, survival hinges on collective collaboration. So when 19-year-old Reid receives an acceptance letter from a college many believe to be a myth, she’s equally elated and guilt-ridden: how can she leave her community and ailing mother for a place that may not even be real? Complicating her decision is the Cad, a “semi-sapient” fungal parasite that lives beneath her skin. It lies dormant for years before “going off,” and there’s no cure for it and no guarantee as to how it will affect those infected. As Reid argues with her mother about her future and navigates her changing relationship with her best friend, she begins to fear that the Cad is controlling her actions. Mohamed grounds her complex, chilling vision of the future in accessible human drama, keeping a tight focus on Reid’s difficult decision and the tension it creates in her relationships. It’s an impressive feat of worldbuilding made stronger by the sensitive, nuanced characters and urgent questions about what people owe to each other. This packs a punch.

 June 28, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Million Dollar Demon by Kim Harrison

Jun 182021
 

a woman, with light coming from her hands, stands in front of a city skylinePublishers Weekly: Picking up from 2020’s American Demon, Harrison’s 15th The Hollows urban fantasy pits her enduring heroine against a new fearsome foe while still delivering the soap operatic supernatural machinations fans expect. The struggle for control of Cincinnati heats up when master vampire Constance Corson makes it clear that the city isn’t big enough for both her and witch-born demon Rachel Morgan. To protect her friends and save her home, Rachel must fight back with every spell, charm, and ally at her disposal. It won’t be easy: she’s on the outs with her demon mentor, Al; on the verge of homelessness thanks to Constance’s machinations; and her lover, Trent Kalamack, is out of town. While he’s away, Rachel must resist the deadly allure of Pike, her vampiric foil who walks the line between reluctant ally and uneasy enemy. Meanwhile, she’s wrapped up in the intrigues of myriad supernatural factions, caught between friendship and obligation—and if she succeeds in ousting Constance, she may need to accept a level of power and responsibility she’s never wanted. This entry relies on the substantial worldbuilding of the previous novels, which will satisfy existing fans but may leave new readers struggling to catch up. For dedicated readers, however, this proves a rousing addition to the series.

 June 18, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed

Jun 172021
 

Publishers Weekly: Moody and atmospheric, this dystopian novella from Mohamed (A Broken Darkness) skillfully turns a murder mystery into a scathing examination of what life might be like in even later stage capitalism. Narrator Jewel and the other courtesans of the House of Bicchieri, an elite brothel, are holding a secret wake for one of their number, Winfield, in the abandoned church that is their place of worship, when Winfield suddenly comes back to life. The undead Winfield recalls being murdered—a fact the owners of the House covered up—and seeks revenge for her death and all the other injuries and injustices meted out to her fellow courtesans by the House’s über-wealthy clientele. Jewel hungers for revenge herself, but is kept in such purposeful and permanent precarity that she can’t act out. Then the owners profane the courtesans’ church, and Jewel must make a choice between protecting Winfield’s plans or her place in the House of Bicchieri. The lush prose, rife with classical allusions, captivates, echoing the brothel’s penchant for containing horrors but covering them up in a wealth of gilded detail. Mohamed’s fans won’t want to miss the mesmerizing lyricality of her latest.

 June 17, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Learning to Speak Southern by Lindsey Rogers Cook

Jun 102021
 

Library Journal: Lex has been traveling the world since graduating college. She’ll go anywhere but home: Memphis, TN. Rather than facing her mother’s unsettling death, she immerses herself in words, creating a lexicon of her own lived experience. Yet after a heartbreak and with help from her godmother Cami, Lex returns to Memphis for what she assumes will be a short visit. Instead, Cami gives Lex the opportunity to learn her mother’s life story. Through her mother’s own words in diary entries from before Lex was born, this daughter begins to question who she is and how many ways there are to define family. A quick and intimate read, Cook’s second novel (after How To Bury Your Brother) embraces the classic story of a daughter realizing that within her mother was a woman she never knew, who was as spirited and strong-willed as Lex herself. Though the plot is predictable, this isn’t frustrating. The familiarity and assurance that you know what’s coming is rewarding and endears the characters to the reader. VERDICT Readers of Southern and women’s fiction will become deeply immersed in this mother-daughter narrative.

 June 10, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Million Dollar Demon by Kim Harrison

Jun 092021
 

a woman, with light coming from her hands, stands in front of a city skylineLibrary Journal: Constance Corson, the new subrosa, or master vampire, of present-day Cincinnati, has finally arrived, and she’s ready to take out protagonist Rachel Morgan. As Rachel looks for a new home in the Hollows, she learns that many Inderlander vampires are being forced from their homes so that Constance and her group can move in. Unable to ignore the problem, Rachel starts bringing the evicted Inderlanders into a partially destroyed church for temporary residence. Everywhere she turns, Rachel finds that Constance is bullying her friends, cutting off supplies, and terrorizing everyone in her way. To stop Constance, Rachel might need to usurp her role as Cincinnati’s subrosa—and take control of the city—which is more than Rachel believes she can handle. With the return of long-standing characters and the addition of some new faces, Harrison’s new entry in the series reveals Rachel to be a flawed but tenacious person who puts personal ties before power. VERDICT Rachel Morgan comes back strong in her 15th outing (after American Demon), as she takes on a new master vampire and finds herself dealing with emotional turmoil and high-stakes action in equal measures.

 June 9, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: When The Sparrow Falls by Neil Sharpson

Jun 082021
 

Booklist: Sharpson’s debut novel takes place in the 2200s in the Caspian Republic, a totalitarian state that is in theory a safe haven from “the Machine,” inhabitants’ term for the rest of the world and its utopian society administered by and populated with sentient AI. The narrative follows Nikolai South, an operative for StaSec, one of the two security forces in charge of maintaining the status quo in the Republic. When a prominent, rabidly anti-Machine journalist dies and is revealed to have been an AI living in a clone body, South is assigned to look after the AI widow of the deceased as she comes to view her husband’s remains. He is thrown into a whirlpool of intrigue as various factions conspire to use the widow’s visit for their own ends, and is simultaneously dragged back into his own muddled past by the widow’s resemblance to his own dead wife. Well-written and suitably grim, this picture of one dystopian holdout in a utopian world should please many sf readers interested in visions of a post-AI future.

 June 8, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Starred Review: The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

May 252021
 

Publishers Weekly: Starling captivates and horrifies by turn in this intricately plotted, deliciously bonkers secondary world gothic fantasy…. Starling’s magic system is so spookily and fully realized, and the final twist so brilliantly turns the novel on its head, that even the most skeptical will be won over. This proves impossible to put down.

 May 25, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

May 212021
 

Tor.com: It’s been almost one long year since Network Effect dropped, and let’s face it: the world is ready for more Murderbot. Dry wit, misanthropy, and space adventures are promises delivered in full in this month’s 6th installment of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries…

Murderbot, though, isn’t a stand-in for any other oppressed group, as much as some of us might see ourselves in its outsider-status, hatred of ally condescension, and “not applicable” gender. The prejudice it faces isn’t because it is socially-coded as a weapon, but because it is a weapon, and so the shape those redemption stories take is fundamentally different. Murderbot isn’t a story about simply learning to love yourself as you are, but of reckoning with the decision to not be the thing you were born to be. It’s about learning to trust even in the midst of justifiable fear. It’s also—for all its death and mayhem—a soothing escape from reality, the likes of which Murderbot itself would approve.

 May 21, 2021  Tagged with: ,

Review: The Seven Visitations of Sydney Burgess by Andy Marino

May 202021
 

Publishers Weekly: Marino does an impressive job writing tender and heartbreaking moments without sacrificing the brutal tone that drives the story.

Absolutely devastating.

 May 20, 2021  Tagged with: ,
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