Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger Illustrations by Rovina Cai Published August 25, 2020
As an Ace reviewer, I’ve been making an effort to read more books with Asexual rep lately, so I was thrilled to come across Elatsoe, a contemporary YA fantasy about Ellie, an asexual Lipan Apache girl, and her ghost dog BFF! With its emphasis on friendships and family and its inclusion of Lipan Apache traditions and cultural practices, Elatsoe is a unique read with a lot of charm, but I was a little disappointed by how young it skews and found myself mentally aging the characters down as I read.
Shortly after Ellie’s ghostly canine companion has a fit she gets the call – her cousin Trevor was killed in a car accident. That night Ellie has a dream about Trevor in which he tells her “A man named Abe Allerton murdered me. Don’t let Abe hurt my family.” Knowing that his daughter is gifted with the family’s secret knowledge of “ghost-calling”, her father agrees to help her find Abe Allerton and bring him to justice.
There are still so few books with asexual characters, and especially asexual protagonists, that it’s always a joy to come across one. I absolutely loved the (ownvoices) Ace rep in this book! Stories about questioning and coming out are incredibly important, but it was such a welcome change to read about an ace character who is secure in her identity and is never pressured by other characters about her asexuality.
Putting aside her aceness for a second though, Ellie is a wonderful protagonist in her own right. Using her ability to raise the dead, she has called the ghost of her dead springer spaniel, and all-around Very Good Boy, Kirby, and is working on long fossilized animals like trilobites. Ellie is determined but compassionate, and her friends, family, and animal companions rally around her in turn, especially her Himbo cheerleading best friend Jay.
Perhaps the strongest feature of Elatsoe is its seamless inclusion of Lipan Apache cultural practices and traditions, such as cutting hair short after experiencing a loss or not revealing a burial site to those who are not kin, in ways that are not only interesting in their own right but serve to propel the plot forward. I also loved the tales of Ellie’s illustrious maternal sixth-great-grandmother, Elatsoe, now known as “Six-Great”, who travelled the land saving people from supernatural creatures and from dangerous settlers. The book also engages with the historical and current treatment of indigenous people in a meaningful way. We watch Ellie seek out justice in a world that’s stacked against her and witness the microaggressions she is subject to on a daily basis.
Elatsoe is set in a United States where magic and the supernatural exist in different forms and are acknowledged. I was intrigued by this world with its Fairy Ring Transportation Centres, cursed vampires, and ghost mammoths, but I didn’t necessarily find the world-building cohesive. I absolutely loved Little Badger’s take on vampire mythology as it relates to Indigenous people though and it resulted in a moment where I actually pumped my fist in the air!
At the risk of losing followers, I confess that I am not a dog person at all BUT this book managed to get ME choked up about a dog!
Grief is an overarching theme and Little Badger tackles loss and moving on in a compassionate and affecting way. I also want to shout out the ethereal black & white illustrations by Rovina Cai which begin each chapter.
My biggest issue with this book is how young it reads. As a thirty-something reader I know I’m not the target audience for Young Adult, but I would say Elatsoe straddles the border between older middle grade and younger YA. Have you ever read Six of Crows and mentally aged the characters up? I was doing the exact opposite here. If someone had told me 17-year-old Ellie was 13 I wouldn’t have even blinked. There’s also a very Scooby Doo vibe – at one point a villain even refers to the characters as “meddling kids!” None of this is inherently bad, it just wasn’t for me.
TL;DR: A moving exploration of grief featuring a brave, but kind asexual protagonist and her ghost dog BFF. I loved the Indigenous cultural aspects, the gorgeous illustrations, and the focus on friends and family, but the mystery plot was a little underwhelming and it reads very young YA/middle grade.
Can you believe we’re halfway through 2021 already? Bonkers. Anyway, I had a couple of decent reading months, finishing 8 books each month but I’m still lacking in titles that I know will be new favourites of mine. My goal for the rest of the year is to prioritize books I suspect I will adore instead of reaching only for the new and shiny.
MAY “Mansfield Park” by Jane Austen “A Desolation Called Peace” by Arkady Martine “Fugitive Telemetry” by Martha Wells “Hummingbird Salamander” by Jeff VanderMeer “Call Down the Hawk” by Maggie Stiefvater “Empire of Pain” by Patrick Radden Keefe “I’m Waiting For You: and other stories” by Kim Bo-young (trans. by Sophie Bowman and Sung Ryu) “Henry VI part 2” by William Shakespeare
JUNE “A Hero Born” by Jin Young (trans. by Anna Holmwood) “Persuasion” by Jane Austen “The Black Tides of Heaven” by Neon Yang “Emma” by Jane Austen (re-read) “Black Water Sister” by Zen Cho “Elatsoe” by Darcie Little Badger “The Goblin Emperor” by Katherine Addison (re-read) “Sorrowland” by Rivers Solomon
Yearly Total: 47/60
Favourite: This was a big few months of familiarity winning out for me. I’m a big re-reader but I had never re-read The Goblin Emperor before and it was such a pleasure to return to after 5 years. I would die for Maia. Speaking of re-reads, I got so much more out of Jane Austen’s Emma than I did 6 months ago and it’s definitely one of my favourite works in the Austen canon. I was also wowed by A Desolation Called Peace, which I loved even more than the first book in the series, Hugo Award-winning A Memory Called Empire. Returning to the world of The Raven Boys series with Call Down the Hawk I found it a much more mature book in some ways. Finally, when in a slump there’s nothing quite like the latest Murderbot to bust you out of it and, sure enough, Fugitive Telemetry was an absolute delight.
Least Favourite: I wanted so much to love it but I spent most of Hummingbird Salamander wondering what the point was and by the end of the book I still didn’t have a satisfying answer. I just couldn’t understand the character’s motivations and her choices are so out there that it effectively ruined the book for me.
Next Month: The Jane Austen book club I’m a part of is transitioning to read paired classics and contemporaries; First up? Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea! I’m currently reading Marija’s beloved chicken book (Brood by Jackie Polzin) and Maggie Stiefvater’s Mister impossible, and I’m slowly making my way through P. Djèlí Clark’s A Master of Djinn, which sadly isn’t grabbing me the way I hoped it would. My library hold on The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, the last in Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, is also in transit, so I am looking forward to that!
***Stage on Screen***
“The Importance of Being Earnest” by Roundabout Theatre Company – “The Importance of Being Earnest” is my all-time favourite play so when I saw that this 2011 production filmed from the Broadway stage was available to stream, I jumped at the chance to see it again! I originally saw the film 10 years ago but frustratingly it has never been released on DVD like other filmed performances. Wilde’s dialogue pops and Santino Fontana and David Furr are wonderful as Algernon and Jack, respectively, while Brian Bedford is larger than life as Lady Bracknell. Watch it (for a fee) here.
“Jeremy Jordan: Carry On” – The fastest way to get me to spend money during this pandemic is to announce that Jeremy Jordan has a new streaming show, but Carry On exceeded all expectations. Unlike Jordan’s previous concerts, which have included limited intervals of storytelling or banter between songs showcasing his glorious tenor, Carry On takes the audience deep inside Jeremy Jordan’s experiences as a new father and delves deeply into his tumultuous upbringing. It’s an incredibly moving show, combining humour and songs with heart-wrenching stories. Highly recommended.
“Dressed as People: a triptych of uncanny abduction” at the Ottawa Fringe Festival – I may write a full review for this soon so it’ll keep it short and just say for now that I enjoyed this trio of gloriously queer monologues with supernatural elements written by three Canadian SFF authors (Kelly Robson, Amal El-Mohtar, and A.M. Dellamonica), and performed by Margo MacDonald!
What was your favourite book read in June? Let me know in thecomments!
It’s been a weird month for me. I actually felt like I coped better during January and February this year, perhaps due to the stay-at-home order in my province which meant that my job at the library was limited to helping with curbside pick-up of holds, a much safer prospect than being in close quarters with patrons to provide computer support and directions. As the stay-at-home order lifted and we resumed operations (and were told that we apparently don’t qualify for any level of vaccine prioritization despite working with the public without being able to enforce a mask mandate and without the protection of plexiglass??) my mental health has deteriorated and I had tech issues as my hard drive mysteriously crashed and I had to pay to replace that. Despite the exhaustion of feeling like, at least in my province, we’re no better off and are, in fact, worse off than a year ago, I did manage to have a solid reading month, reading 10 works.
Stats: My reading this year continues to be overwhelmingly white, which is not a good look, but everything 9/10 were by women or nonbinary authors. Four of my reads were new releases and I wasn’t absolutely blown away by any of them so I’m going to make an effort to read from my backlist in the next few months.
“The Daughter of the Forest” by Juliet Marillier “Winter’s Orbit” by Everina Maxwell “Brown Girl in the Ring” by Nalo Hopkinson “Slippery Creatures” by K.J. Charles “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare (re-read) “The Echo Wife” by Sarah Gailey “Northanger Abbey” by Jane Austen “The Lost Apothecary” by Sarah Penner “The Councillor” by E.J. Beaton “The Raven King” by Maggie Stiefvater (re-read)
Monthly Total: 10 Yearly Total: 28/60
Favourite:“Daughter of the Forest” is a 500+ page mass market and I read it in a matter of days I was so consumed. I did have some issues with it, but I understand why Marillier is such a beloved fantasy author and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Least Favourite:“The Lost Apothecary” is a case of a really interesting concept executed poorly. There’s very little about the book to recommend and I can’t see myself reading future titles from this author.
Next Month: I read a lot of new releases and while I enjoyed (most) of them, they didn’t absolutely blow me away so I want to concentrate on some backlist titles and go be a little less strict in my reading. I will be reading “Mansfield Park” for Jane Austen Book Club though and I’m hoping to catch up on some of the Shakespeare plays I skipped in the last month or two.
***Seen on Screen***
WandaVision – Late to the party, I know, but I’m 5 episodes in and so far enjoying this strange MCU property. I’m too young to have much of a point of reference for sitcoms from past decades, but I’m finding Elizabeth Olsen’s acting and ability to suit the style of each era of television interesting and I’ve enjoyed the peeks we’re getting so far at what’s going on. I’m not unspoiled about how it plays out but it’s still engaging to watch it all unfold.
The Falcon & The Winter Soldier – Honestly I’m a little disappointed by this one so far but each episode has been better than the one before so I think it will pick up. I’m not sure this show knows what it wants to be. There’s some attempt to grapple with larger world economic issues, but also tackling race relations in America with Sam’s story, and there’s all of Bucky’s trauma to contend with, and now there’s Hydra involvement/super soldiers and I worry that they’ve bitten off more than they could chew. Possibly (probably) this could have used a longer (13 episode) arc like the Netflix Marvel properties that had the time for character development and to amp up story arcs. Instead, much like the marvel movies themselves, it feels like we’re getting action with a side of banter while character development is only sprinkled on top. Bucky especially deserves better, but so does Sam.
***Stage on Screen***
“Victoria” by Northern Ballet – Northern Ballet is one of my favourite ballet companies and if I lived on their side of the Atlantic I would be a regular attendee of their performances. They recently streamed “Victoria”, a new ballet choreographed by Cathy Marston about the life of the Queen, as part of their pay-what-you-can season. The ballet uses a frame narrative in which Victoria’s youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice (an expressive Pippa Moore) reads her mother’s diaries after Victoria’s death and comes to understand her mother at last. Abigail Prudames gives a tour-de-force performance as Victoria, in the first act as the austere widowed Queen and then, as Beatrice reads earlier volumes of the diaries, as a bright young woman navigating the corridors of newfound power and falling in love. Marston’s choreography shines throughout. My only quibbles were that the ballet seems to want to document every aspect of Victoria’s life, which can make the storytelling confusing and the characters hard to follow. Like so many video captures of ballet performances there is sometimes a tendency to zoom in too closely instead of letting viewers see more of the stage and movement, but this is negligible. There’s a conversation to be had about whether Queen Victoria and the Empire she represents is really the best subject for a newly commissioned work but when the work is this good the answer is murkier.
“The Dreamers Ever Leave You” Excerpt from The National Ballet of Canada – I love this ballet so much. Robert Binet’s short contemporary piece inspired by the beauty of the natural world as depicted in the works of Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris moves me every time. It was originally commissioned as an immersive experience presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario where the audience could move around the dancers as they performed. I’m so in love with the gorgeous piano score by Lubomyr Melnyk, the evocative lighting and spare costumes, and the quality of movement. “The Dreamers Ever Leave You” reminds me of the beauty and the harshness of the Northern landscape and this filmed excerpt is gorgeously shot as well. Please give this a watch, you won’t regret it! Watch it Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWYs5djBhT0
What have you been up to for the last month? What was your favourite March read? Comment and let me know!
Although, like 99% of book bloggers, one of my reading resolutions is (yet again) to read more backlist titles, it’s fun to look ahead to the shiny new releases coming out each year. Last year I read 16 of my 26 most anticipated new releases, which I think is pretty decent! Here are some 2021 releases that have captured my attention. Summaries are in smaller font above and come from goodreads, my thoughts are below that.
Summerwater by Sarah Moss January 12th FSG
They rarely speak to each other, but they take notice—watching from the safety of their cabins, peering into the half-lit drizzle of a Scottish summer day, making judgments from what little they know of their temporary neighbors. On the longest day of the year, the hours pass nearly imperceptibly as twelve people go from being strangers to bystanders to allies, their attention forced into action as tragedy sneaks into their lives.
At daylight, a mother races up the mountain, fleeing into her precious dose of solitude. A retired man studies her return as he reminisces about the park’s better days. A young woman wonders about his politics as she sees him head for a drive with his wife, and tries to find a moment away from her attentive boyfriend. A teenage boy escapes the scrutiny of his family, braving the dark waters of the loch in a kayak. This cascade of perspective shows each wrapped up in personal concerns, unknown to each other, as they begin to notice one particular family that doesn’t seem to belong. Tensions rise, until nightfall brings an irrevocable turn.
Like many bloggers, I really enjoyed Ghost Wall and Moss’ prose, so I’m curious about this one.
Dealbreaker by L.X. Beckett January 26th Tor Books
Rubi Whiting has done the impossible. She has proved that humanity deserves a seat at the galactic table. Well, at least a shot at a seat. Having convinced the galactic governing body that mankind deserves a chance at fixing their own problems, Rubi has done her part to launch the planet into a new golden age of scientific discovery and technological revolution.
However, there are still those in the galactic community that think that humanity is too poisonous, too greedy, to be allowed in, and they will stop at nothing to sabotage a species determined to pull itself up.
I read Gamechanger, the first book in their Bounceback series in 2019 and thought it was a really exciting and underhyped debut with worldbuilding that was immersive, intricate, and completely believable as an extension of where our society is today. I suspect it’s going to me a little complicated for me to want to read while the pandemic is worse than ever, but I look forward to reading Dealbreaker in the Fall maybe?
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell February 2nd Tor Books
While the Iskat Empire has long dominated the system through treaties and political alliances, several planets, including Thea, have begun to chafe under Iskat’s rule. When tragedy befalls Imperial Prince Taam, his Thean widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with Taam’s cousin, the disreputable Kiem, in a bid to keep the rising hostilities between the two worlds under control.
But when it comes to light that Prince Taam’s death may not have been an accident, and that Jainan himself may be a suspect, the unlikely pair must overcome their misgivings and learn to trust one another as they navigate the perils of the Iskat court, try to solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war… all while dealing with their growing feelings for each other.
I’ve been burned too many times to put much stock in comp titles, but Ancillary Justice meets Red, White & Royal Blue sounds very much up my alley! Queer romance plus space politics? I have a mighty need! It’s also blurbed by some authors I really enjoy, including Ann Leckie, Emily Tesh, and Martha Wells, who compares it to another series I enjoy, Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. Also, when I added this to my goodreads TBR list a close friend mentioned that she read and loved an original fanfiction version of this story.
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec February 9th Ace Books
Angrboda’s story begins where most witches’ tales end: with a burning. A punishment from Odin for refusing to provide him with knowledge of the future, the fire leaves Angrboda injured and powerless, and she flees into the farthest reaches of a remote forest. There she is found by a man who reveals himself to be Loki, and her initial distrust of him transforms into a deep and abiding love.
Their union produces three unusual children, each with a secret destiny, who Angrboda is keen to raise at the edge of the world, safely hidden from Odin’s all-seeing eye. But as Angrboda slowly recovers her prophetic powers, she learns that her blissful life—and possibly all of existence—is in danger.
With help from the fierce huntress Skadi, with whom she shares a growing bond, Angrboda must choose whether she’ll accept the fate that she’s foreseen for her beloved family…or rise to remake their future. From the most ancient of tales this novel forges a story of love, loss, and hope for the modern age.
This one is getting a lot of hype but I haven’t heard enough from trusted sources to know whether it will be to my tastes or not. I’m definitely intrigued by the summary and I have an interest in learning more about Norse mythology, but it’s not a priority for me.
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey February 16th Tor Books
Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be. And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.
Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and the Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up. Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.
I loved Gailey’s Magic for Liars and this sounds really intriguing!
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers February 16th 2021 Harper Voyager
With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop.
At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit permits, and assorted supplies. The Five-Hop is run by an enterprising alien and her sometimes helpful child, who work hard to provide a little piece of home to everyone passing through.
When a freak technological failure halts all traffic to and from Gora, three strangers—all different species with different aims—are thrown together at the Five-Hop. Grounded, with nothing to do but wait, the trio—an exiled artist with an appointment to keep, a cargo runner at a personal crossroads, and a mysterious individual doing her best to help those on the fringes—are compelled to confront where they’ve been, where they might go, and what they are, or could be, to each other.
The fourth book in Chambers’ Wayfarer series. I have to admit that I wasn’t quite as thrilled by the third installment as I was The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit, but with the pandemic still raging and my brain craving comfort food, Chambers’ soft hopepunk style could be exactly the right book at the right time.
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine March 2nd Tor Books
An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.
In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.
Whether they succeed or fail could change the fate of Teixcalaan forever.
I really enjoyed A Memory Called Empire and although I’m not sure my pandemic fog brain can handle something as political, dense, and complicated as Martine’s writing can be right now, I will definitely be picking this up before the end of the year.
The Councillor by E.J. Beaton March 2nd DAW
When the death of Iron Queen Sarelin Brey fractures the realm of Elira, Lysande Prior, the palace scholar and the queen’s closest friend, is appointed Councillor. Publically, Lysande must choose the next monarch from amongst the city-rulers vying for the throne. Privately, she seeks to discover which ruler murdered the queen, suspecting the use of magic.
Resourceful, analytical, and quiet, Lysande appears to embody the motto she was raised with: everything in its place. Yet while she hides her drug addiction from her new associates, she cannot hide her growing interest in power. She becomes locked in a game of strategy with the city-rulers – especially the erudite prince Luca Fontaine, who seems to shift between ally and rival.
Further from home, an old enemy is stirring: the magic-wielding White Queen is on the move again, and her alliance with a traitor among the royal milieu poses a danger not just to the peace of the realm, but to the survival of everything that Lysande cares about.
In a world where the low-born keep their heads down, Lysande must learn to fight an enemy who wears many guises… even as she wages her own battle between ambition and restraint.
I know very little about this, so it could be hit or miss, but it’s classified as Machiavellian political fantasy, which is definitely my jam.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner March 2nd Park Row
Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.
With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating exploration of women rebelling against a man’s world, the destructive force of revenge and the remarkable ways that women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
One of my goals this year is to read more historical fiction, a genre I generally really enjoy but don’t pick up as often as I should and this looks like a great choice. It’s partly set in one of my favourite historical periods (Georgian England) and has a decidedly feminist slant that appeal to me.
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark March 23rd Orbit
Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.
Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.
Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale.
I believe this is a w/w fantasy and I saw it pop up at least once among fantasy authors I follow on Twitter so it sounds like something I’ll enjoy.
Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff Vandermeer April 6th MCD
Security consultant “Jane Smith” receives an envelope with a key to a storage unit that holds a taxidermied hummingbird and clues leading her to a taxidermied salamander. Silvina, the dead woman who left the note, is a reputed ecoterrorist and the daughter of an Argentine industrialist. By taking the hummingbird from the storage unit, Jane sets in motion a series of events that quickly spin beyond her control.
Soon, Jane and her family are in danger, with few allies to help her make sense of the true scope of the peril. Is the only way to safety to follow in Silvina’s footsteps? Is it too late to stop? As she desperately seeks answers about why Silvina contacted her, time is running out—for her and possibly for the world.
Honestly I’ve fallen behind on Jeff Vandermeer new releases but his book Borne made such a lasting impression on me that I keep adding his books to my TBR. Hopefully this will be the year when I read through both some of newer releases and his back catalogue. This eco-thriller does sound really intriguing!
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe April 13th Doubleday
The Sackler name adorns the walls of many storied institutions: Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, known for their lavish donations to the arts and sciences. The source of the family fortune was vague, however, until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing Oxycontin, a blockbuster painkiller that was a catalyst for the opioid crisis.
The one and only non-fiction book on my most anticipated list! Say Nothing was my favourite book of 2019 and I know shockingly little about the opioid crisis, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to learn more in a really compelling way.
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson April 23nd Grove Press/Black Cat
Two young people meet at a pub in South East London. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists – he a photographer, she a dancer – trying to make their mark in a city that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence.
At once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity, Open Water asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body, to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength, to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, Caleb Azumah Nelson has written the most essential debut of recent years.
Thank you to Rachel for letting me know about this one, which looks really beautiful.
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells April 27th Tor.com
When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)
Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!
Again!
Martha Wells’ Murderbot series continues to be a delight. I’ve never rated a book in the series below four stars and I’m really excited about this one, which features a murder mystery plot!
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint May 4th Flatiron Books
As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year.
When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.
In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover’s ambition?
Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.
I’ve had a love of Greek mythology since childhood and although I don’t always love books based on myths, they can be brilliant. I’m really hoping this falls into the brilliant category.
Vern – seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised – flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world.
But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.
To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future – outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.
Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction.
I love Rivers Solomon’s books and will definitely be reading their latest work. I’m also very intrigued by this being gothic fiction!
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho May 11th Ace
Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there’s only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god–and she’s decided Jess is going to help her do it.
Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she’ll also need to regain control of her body and destiny. If she fails, the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.
I didn’t love her previous release, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, but Sorcerer to the Crown is one of my all-time favourites. I love that this is set in Malaysia and is a contemporary fantasy. Also this cover is drop dead gorgeous!
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark May 11th Tor.com
Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.
So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage.
Alongside her Ministry colleagues and her clever girlfriend Siti, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city – or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems….
I really enjoyed Clark’s novella set in the same alternate Cairo, The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Agent Fatma.
The Chosen & The Beautiful by Nghi Vo June 1st Tor.com
Immigrant. Socialite. Magician.
Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society―she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She’s also queer, Asian, adopted, and treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her.
But the world is full of wonders: infernal pacts and dazzling illusions, lost ghosts and elemental mysteries. In all paper is fire, and Jordan can burn the cut paper heart out of a man. She just has to learn how.
Nghi Vo’s debut novel reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice.
One of my most hotly anticipated for sure. I’ve heard glowing reviews and Vo’s The Empress of Salt and Fortune was one of my favourite 2020 reads. I still need to read The Great Gatsby, but I honestly cannot wait for this queer immigrant twist on a classic!
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston June 1st St. Martin’s Griffin
For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.
But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.
Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile, showing up in a leather jacket to save August’s day when she needed it most. August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon, she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane doesn’t just look like an old school punk rocker. She’s literally displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help her. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things, after all.
Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a magical, sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.
Like so many others I fell hard for Red, White, and Royal Blue. Even though I took issue with its very American slant, shallow depiction of an alternate British royal family, and some of the prose, I still loved it and I’m very excited to see what McQuiston does next.
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid June 8th Voyager
In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.
But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.
As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.
This apparently features enemies to lovers as well as Hungarian history and Jewish myth, which certainly sounds unique, but it’s this tweet that made a friend and I both add it to our TBRs:
The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker June 8th Harper
Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, able to hear the thoughts and longings of the people around her and compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a perpetually restless and free-spirited creature of fire, imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and pretend to be human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Having encountered each other under calamitous circumstances, Chava and Ahmad’s lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.
Each has unwittingly affected the humans around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele—not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.
Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?
It’s finally here!! I read The Golem and the Jinni back in 2013 and the sequel has been in progress for years but finally has a publication date and a cover! I really need to re-read the first one but I remember absolutely loving it and I’m really hoping this lives up to my high expectations.
The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison June 22nd Tor Books
When the young half-goblin emperor Maia sought to learn who had killed his father and half-brothers, he turned to an obscure resident of his Court, a Prelate of Ulis and a Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar found the truth, though it did him no good to discover it
.Now Celehar lives in the city of Amalo, far from the Court though not exactly in exile. He has not escaped from politics, but his position gives him the ability to serve the common people of the city, which is his preference. He lives modestly, but his decency and fundamental honesty will not permit him to live quietly.
Is 2021 the year of long-awaited sequels? This is the follow-up one of my all-time favourite books, 2014’s The Goblin Emperor. Its protagonist Maia is also one of my favourite literary characters and I absolutely cannot wait to see more of him and Addison’s worldbuilding in this.
The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik July 6th Del Rey Books
At the Scholomance, El, Orion, and the other students are faced with their final year—and the looming specter of graduation, a deadly ritual that leaves few students alive in its wake. El is determined that her chosen group will survive, but it is a prospect that is looking harder by the day as the savagery of the school ramps up. Until El realizes that sometimes winning the game means throwing out all the rules .
A Deadly Education was one of my 2020 favourites and I’m looking forward to seeing how the story progresses!
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers July 13th Tor.com
It’s been centuries since the robots of Earth gained self-awareness and laid down their tools. Centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.
One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They’re going to need to ask it a lot.
Becky Chambers’ new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
I’ve enjoyed Becky Chambers’ hopepunk style of writing with diversity, optimism, and intriguing world-building and I’m looking forward to seeing what else she can do outside of the Wayfarers series.
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan July 20th Tor Books
“I refuse to be nothing…”
In a famine-stricken village on a dusty yellow plain, two children are given two fates. A boy, greatness. A girl, nothingness…
In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. For the starving peasants of the Central Plains, greatness is something found only in stories. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected.
When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother’s identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. There, propelled by her burning desire to survive, Zhu learns she is capable of doing whatever it takes, no matter how callous, to stay hidden from her fate.
After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother’s abandoned greatness.
Probably my most anticipated title of the year. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on this. There has been so much positive buzz from people I trust and it sounds very much like my kind of fantasy.
A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske November 2nd Tor Books
Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.
Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.
Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.
One of my other most anticipated releases this year is Freya Marske’s debut. I’ve followed Marske on twitter for awhile now because she is a fellow Lymond fan and she’s also very into The Untamed, which I’m obsessed with. I suspect that means we enjoy the same tropes. I’ve heard a lot of good buzz about this one and can’t wait to read it!
There’s no way I’m going to get through all of these, but there are a lot of exciting new releases to turn to (and to pre-order from your local indie bookstore!) What upcoming books are you most excited about? Comment and let me know.
2020 was a topsy-turvey year of reading for many of us, what with that whole global pandemic thing happening. While some books provided a comforting refuge or allowed us to escape from what was going on around us, others failed to meet expectations. Reading is always subjective and not all of these are bad books per se, they’re just books that, for one reason or another, left me underwhelmed.
The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison My rating: Okay this one is on me. I placed a hold based on how much I love the authors’ other works (The Doctrine of Labyrinths series and The Goblin Emperor) without knowing anything about it. To its credit, The Angel of the Crows is exactly what it says on the tin, but the label reads “Victorian Sherlock Wing!fic”. Honestly, circa 2010 Chelsea might have really loved this. 2020 Chelsea was willing to go along for the ride but not at all invested. Retelling Arthur Conan-Doyle’s stories with a supernatural element is an interesting enough idea and it works well for awhile, but this book is almost 450 pages and it spends almost the entire time on these retellings. Knowing as I do from her prior works how skilled Monette/Addison is at worldbuilding, I was disappointed by how unoriginal this was.
Tarnished Are the Stars by Rosiee Thor My rating: I hate to include an #ownvoices Ace novel on my list of least favourites and this is honestly as much a case of me aging out of enjoying YA as a genre as it is any issues with the book itself. Tarnished Are The Stars hooked me quickly with its interesting dystopian concept – all technology (including medical tech like prosthetics and pacemakers) are banned from a new settlement on ‘Earth Adjacent’ because of the role tech is seen to have played in Earth’s destruction. But as a heart condition impacts more and more of the population, a rebel civilization on the outskirts uses technology to keep its people alive under the nose of the ruthless commissioner. Ultimately Tarnished just ran out of steam. Its breakneck pacing didn’t allow characters a chance to breathe between events or to have moments of self-reflection and growth. Also, character choices felt like they were being dictated by plot, rather than by their motivation, which made for murky characterization. However, I did appreciate that Tarnished are the Stars is the rare YA SFF standalone, it has wlw lead characters, and that it not only features #ownvoices asexual representation, but A) Aro-Ace rep and B ) in a male viewpoint character! I do question the decision to have the ace character come from a home without familial love and to have no platonic connections until the events of this book as it plays into the “broken asexual” trope, but the rep is mostly well done and that’s important. This is likely a worthwhile read for a younger, and especially a younger questioning audience, I just found it too rushed to work for me.
Real Life by Brandon Taylor My rating: There’s a joke to be made here about both Real Life and real life falling flat. But more seriously I had high hopes for this one since I’ve had a lot of success with reading LGBT literary fiction in the past and I enjoy the author’s Twitter presence, but I just found this so dull. I hate using that word too, but the pacing is absolutely glacial. Literary fiction can walk a fine line for me between being beautifully written and moving or overwritten and surface-deep and unfortunately Taylor too often lands on the overwritten side of that line. His prose can be beautiful, but at times he veers into saying something because he can say it in a pretty way rather than because it’s something that adds to the story in any way. I felt sympathy for Wallace, a Black gay Southern poor biochemistry graduate student living and working in a white Midwestern space, and thought that Taylor depicted both the overt racism and the microaggressions that he faces, in a very honest way, but I found it hard to root for Wallace. He’s SUCH a melancholic passive character and even though those characteristics are informed by past trauma, I wanted so badly for him to stand up for himself in some small way and was increasingly frustrated when nothing changed. I feel some guilt about disliking something that is obviously so personal, especially as a fairly privileged white woman, but I just never connected enough with Wallace to make this an enjoyable reading experience for me.
The Old Guard Book One: Opening Fire by Greg Rucka & Leandro Fernández My rating: I was not the right reader for this. Many people fell in love with the recent Netflix movie adaptation of this book over the summer. While I watched and enjoyed the adaptation, I enjoyed it in a popcorn eating-that was a fun action movie with some diversity as a bonus-I will never watch this again way. But for some reason I borrowed the graphic novel anyway. One Goodreads review said that it read like a rough draft for the movie and I honestly can’t think of a better description than that. If you’re a big fan of the movie you may enjoy seeing how characters and dialogue evolved (and yes, Joe and Nicky’s moment about what they mean to each other is here) otherwise you’re better off just watching the movie. Also, I hate the art. I’ve never hated comic book art more than I do this work by Leandro Fernández.
The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Christopher Columbus, His Son, and the Quest to Build the World’s Greatest Library by Edward Wilson-Lee My rating: There was so much potential here to tell a really interesting story, and instead of letting Hernando’s library and his organizational system speak for itself, Wilson-Lee focuses so much on the connection to illegitimate Hernando’s father, Christopher Columbus, that literally the entire first third of the book is about Columbus. The result is a meandering exploration of the time period that doesn’t know what it wants to be. There’s too much “perhaps” and “maybe” for this to be a purely factual work. There’s too much focus on Spain and its history for this to be a biography. And crucially it’s not compelling or well-written enough to entertain or impart knowledge in a meaningful way. I did really enjoy the parts focused on Hernando and his attempts to classify his collection, but they were too few and far between to sustain my interest. Admittedly I don’t read much non-fiction, but if I hadn’t been reading this in order to lead a book club at work, I wouldn’t have finished it. Tellingly two of the book club members also didn’t make it past the first hundred pages. FullReview here
The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons My rating: The only other book I read in 2020 that I wish I’d DNFed, The Regrets claims the title of my Least Favourite Book of 2020. It also has the distinction of being the only book on this list that is not just a case of me being the wrong reader for this particular book (although I very much was), but a book that I cannot in good conscience recommend to anyone. This is a bad case of a blurb setting up expectations that are destined to be let down by the contents of the novel. I expected a funny, sexy, quirky, rom-com ghost story. What I got was an unlikable, pretentious, handsome, and aimless protagonist and his quirky manic pixie dream girl/sexy librarian stereotype love interest that I wondered if Bonnaffons was deliberately parodying how literary straight white male authors write. Yet the most offensive thing about The Regrets is that the author has clearly never set foot in a city library or spoken to a librarian in her life. Manic Pixie Librarian shelves, alphabetizes, and day dreams literally all day. She never interacts with the patrons, certainly never does any programming or answers any reference questions, but worst of all she muses about how empty the library is during the day… in Brooklyn. Are there no seniors, no unemployed or homeless people, no new or stay-at-home moms with kids under the age of 5 in Brooklyn?!? If you’re not a librarian you might be able to suspend your disbelief enough to read this, but really why would you bother?
What books did you find disappointing this year? Let me know or link me your blog posts in the comments.
I haven’t written any reviews for the last few months, but I still wanted to look back briefly on my reading so far this summer and highlight some of my favourites. Since I haven’t written any longer reviews, here are some brief thoughts on each of the ten books I read in June/July:
Alice Payne Rides by Kate Heartfield
While slogging through The Raven Stratagem this month I really needed something fun and Alice Payne Rides fit the bill. Like its Nebula nominated predecessor, Alice Payne Arrives, this consequences of time travel novella is fast-paced, features a cast of engaging characters, and shows evidence of impeccable research as it includes historical mysteries like the disappearance of Arthur of Brittany.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Soloman
Unsurprisingly, this novel about the journey of a space ship organized much like the antebellum South is at times difficult to read. Dark-skinned sharecroppers from lower decks, like protagonist Aster, endure brutal treatment, deplorable living conditions, and pervasive casual cruelty from white upper-deck “owners”. An Unkindness of Ghosts certainly isn’t subtle, and the plot does meander, but the characters are unique, diverse in sexuality and gender (two of the lead characters appear to be written as non-binary, a minor character is asexual) and dimensional, and the world-building grounds this sci-fi treatment of American slavery.
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (re-read)
If you liked Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell but wished it was more diverse and faster-paced then rush to your local library/bookstore and pick up Sorcerer to the Crown. This book is so damned charming! The author comments on issues such as racism, sexism, and classism by depicting the microaggressions Zacharias Wythe, a freed slave and the newly appointed Sorcerer Royal, experiences courtesy of his peers, and the prejudice faced by Prunella, a half-Indian woman practicing magic. The tone of the novel is so much more light-hearted than this description suggests though. There’s wit, there’s magic, there’s romance. What more could you want?
The True Queen by Zen Cho
While I found this sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown equally charming, the plot twists were a little predictable (and frustratingly the reader arrives at the answers before the characters do in almost all cases) so it didn’t quite enthrall me like Cho’s first book. What a delight to return to this world and these characters though. I loved seeing Prunella in power, enjoyed the deeper development of minor characters from Sorcerer to the Crown like Rollo, Damerell, and Henrietta, and I found Muna a sympathetic protagonist.
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of the most compulsively readable authors I’ve ever encountered. Like The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I found this book difficult to put down I was so engrossed. Formatted as a series of interviews with former members, friends, and family of a Fleetwood Mac-inspired fictional band, it evokes the 70s rock scene in LA with all the sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll you’d expect, but there’s an emotional heart beating under all that glamour. I had trouble telling some of the male bandmates apart and kept having to flip back and forth to remember who was who, but other characters, like independent Karen, and of course Daisy and Billy, whose chemistry practically leaps off the page, drew me in.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
There’s no denying that this is a gorgeous book. Its language is as accomplished as you’d expect from poet Vuong and there are moments of great profundity but ultimately this just wasn’t a book that I connected with personally. The exquisite prose is to be admired though.
Exit Strategy by Martha Wells Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
I continue to absolutely love the character of Murderbot and its reluctant journey to explore its humanity. Often in science-fiction the non-human characters actively seek out human experiences. I think it’s rarer to see a character who so desperately would prefer not to bother with human interaction or experiences and yet can’t help being pulled in that direction.
Lie With Me by Philippe Besson (translated by Molly Ringwald)
Drawing understandable comparisons to other LGBT works like Call Me By Your Name and Tin Man, Lie With Me is a beautifully translated story of an affair between two teenage boys in France and the lasting impact of their time together. Although it doesn’t cover new territory, it’s no less poignant for that.
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (re-read)
I thought that on a re-read Ninefox Gambit would be easier to comprehend, but alas I still found myself longing desperately for a glossary. It’s still too military sci-fi, a genre I have no interest in, to really appeal to me, but the characters of Jedao and Cheris are written so well and their dynamic is so engaging that it kept me interested even when I had no idea what else was going on.
***Seen on Stage***
The National Ballet of Canada’s production of The Merry Widow this June was a glittering delight. So incredibly charming that I seriously considered playing hooky from work so I could see it again with a second cast, The Merry Widow also marked one of the last performances of principal dancer Xiao Nan Yu before she retired from the stage. I’ve been a fan of Nan’s for awhile and seeing her dance the leading role of rich widow Hanna Glawari was definitely bittersweet. As thrilled as I am that I got to witness one of her final performances, she will be so very missed and I can’t believe I’ll never see her thoughtful Tatiana (in Onegin) or powerfully composed Paulina (in The Winter’s Tale) again. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Guillaume Cote, but he was unrecognizably good here, displaying a talent for comedy as the drunk Count Danilo and then partnering Nan beautifully in their romantic scenes later in the ballet. Jillian Vanstone was also winning as the young Valencienne and the set design and costumes deserve a mention for their sheer splendor.
But of course the highlight of June for me was finally getting to see Jeremy Jordan sing live! That’s one to cross off my bucket list for sure! The song choices in this Modern Broadway concert series highlighting the Toronto Symphony Orchestra left something to be desired, and I wasn’t as impressed with his co-star, Betsy Wolfe, as I was by Jordan, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. Jeremy Jordan is a charismatic, ridiculously charming performer with a tenor to die for and hearing those notes in songs like Santa Fe sung live was a treat.
If I’d seen The Lion King fifteen or twenty years ago I have no doubt I would have loved it. Seeing it as an adult, when its puppetry and design are no longer as innovative as they were when the musical debuted, I was less impressed. I’m still glad that I finally saw The Lion King though and I enjoyed it (there were great performances on this tour from the actors playing Timon and Pumbaa, from Greg Jackson as Zazu, and especially from Mufasa understudy William James Jr.).
I went to see Soulpepper’s production of August Osage County entirely for the cast and was not disappointed. The performances were simply stunning in this family drama. Samantha Brown (as live-in Cheyenne woman Johnna) played a character with little dialogue but held her own, subtly saying as much with her facial expressions and body language as any other character on that stage. This is very much a play about formidable, sometimes unlikable, women, and Nancy Palk and reliably great Maev Beatty were perfectly matched as manipulative mother and daughter. It’s a long play, but it never felt long. The humour sparkled and the drama and plot twists kept the audience enthralled.
I can’t say that the National Ballet of Canada’s summer mixed program Physical Thinking(comprised entirely of works choreographed by William Forsythe) did much for me. I liked it at the time but even a few months later I’m having trouble remembering the program.
With a day off work at the end of July, my mom and I purchased online rush tickets to see the Canadian cast of Come From Away. We’d previously seen the show during its pre-Broadway Toronto tryout in December 2016 and loved it but hadn’t been back since. I’d forgotten just how funny, heartwarming, and just plain enjoyable this show is! If you haven’t seen Come From Away yet, it’s now in Australia, London, New York, Toronto, and on tour across North America and I definitely recommend it as a great night of theatre.
***Life Updates***
I’ve been pretty scarce around these parts for the last few months and most of that is because my job has been keeping me busy. The public library branch where I work is perpetually short-staffed and while it means that I have been getting a lot of hours and experience, it also means a lot more responsibility. Lately I’ve found the sheer volume of work to be done really stressful and that coupled with existing mental health issues has left me feeling very drained. Some of the positions are starting to be filled so I’m hoping to have more of a system of support in the branch soon.
I am enjoying life as a Children’s Librarian though! I do a weekly Family Time session where I do half an hour of themed stories, songs, and rhymes, followed by a craft. Initially this was really daunting, but I’ve become more comfortable with it and I really enjoy seeing my regulars (a few of the kids hugged me last week, which was really sweet) and the crafts are going over really well! Last week we made ocean-themed suncatchers out of tissue paper, contact paper, and ocean animal silhouettes, and the week before that was glow-in-the-dark paper bowl jellyfish!
I’ve also been around less because my faithful 7-year-old laptop is on its last legs. Sometimes when I start it up it doesn’t charge even though it’s plugged in, and it’s always reallllly slow. I did buy a new laptop but haven’t had the time to set it up yet. Fingers crossed I can do that this weekend!
***Coming up in August***
I’m still desperately trying to find some five-star reads that blow me away. One step towards that is reading through my backlist of owned books. I have about 10 that I’ve identified and set on their own shelf, so I’m going to get through 2 a month until the end of the year. If you have any suggestions for books you think I’d love, send them my way!
For my one year anniversary of being a public librarian in May I wanted to do a sort-of FAQ/AMA about being a Librarian. It didn’t happen, but I think there’s enough crossover and curiosity with book bloggers and libraries/librarians that I’m still going to write a bit about my experiences and day-to-day life and answer any questions you might have. I’m also planning to do a series on places in Toronto for book lovers, so stay tuned for that too in case you ever find yourself in “the 6ix”!
Although April was a better month of reading for me, I was less successful at following through and writing reviews for every book I finished. I’m still working through my backlog of reviews but am hoping to be caught up soon!
Witchmark by C.L. Polk + Review Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller + Review Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson + Review Armistice by Lara Elena Donnelly (re-read – RTC) Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik + Review The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal + Review Amnesty by Lara Elena Donnelly (RTC)
Book of the Month:Amnesty. Was there ever any doubt? I’m still finding time to write proper reviews, but I’ve been shouting my feelings about the Amberlough Dossier series from the rafters for months. Amnestybrought the trilogy to a bittersweet and perfectly appropriate conclusion. Stay tuned for more feelings on this underappreciated series of books and their ridiculously gorgeous art deco inspired covers!
Least Favourite: Witchmark. I was the wrong reader for this book. It’s a cute fluffy queer romance that’s light on plot, yet somehow also light on character development? I liked it but it felt like a missed opportunity to create something really unique and exciting. Those who like their books a lot lighter than I generally do will undoubtedly get more out of it than I did.
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Seen on Stage: I didn’t get out to see much theatre this month, but I did make it to the hottest ticket in Toronto right now, a sit-down Canadian production of Dear Evan Hansen! I have some issues with the book and story of Dear Evan Hansen (okay, and maybe also some lingering bitterness about how Natasha Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 should have won the Tony, or at least the heartwarming Come From Away), but the production design is sensational, the music is great, and the Canadian cast, led by Robert Markus as Evan, is insanely good.
My two sentence review of Angélique, which received its Toronto premiere at Factory Theatre was as follows: Fucking White People. Yes All Men. Based on the true story of Marie Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman who was hanged for setting fire to Montréal in 1734, it’s undoubtedly a depressing story in which Angélique is repeatedly let down, abused, and punished by those who have power over her. The script could use some tightening though, as there was a musical moment that can only be described as bizarre that needs to go and these prevented the play from hitting as hard as it could.
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Life Updates: On April 24th I attended an author event at the Toronto Reference Library where Sally Rooney was interviewed about her work by author Sheila Heti. Part of my motivation for going was to try and get a book signed after the reading as a surprise for Rachel, but I genuinely loved hearing Rooney speak. She was eloquent, whip-smart, and thoughtful in her answers even when asked questions that took a long time to get to the point and I can’t recommend going to see her speak highly enough if you ever have the chance. After the Q&A I joined the signing line and was able to get her to sign a copy of Conversations With Friends for Rachel and my coveted print ARC of Normal People for me. What a great night!
I then spent the last weekend in April visiting the wonderful Rachel and her cats! I really needed a break from city life and realized I hadn’t had more than 4 days off in a row for a year, so it was a much needed vacation. We watched a depressing Irish movies marathon, read, drank tea, visited all the great indie bookstores in Vermont, and I spent a lot of time admiring Percy and, my Queen, Lily. Thanks for having me Rachel!
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Coming up in May: I’m finishing up my Reading the Nebulas challenge this month! I’ve finished the nominated novels but still have 3 novellas to go. My copy of Conversations With Friends arrived from the library, so I’m looking forward to diving into that. I’m also filling in for one of my library colleagues to run the branch bookclub this month! I’m very excited about it but I have to read the book first, so I’ll also be reading The Submission by Amy Waldman. We’re finally starting to see some Spring-like weather here in Toronto so hopefully it will soon be balcony reading season!
What did everyone else get up to in April? What was the best book you read this month?
Well, no one can say my March reading list lacked variety! A non-fiction professional development book, a buzzworthy literary novel, a fantasy debut from a respected science-fiction author, a narrative non-fiction true crime book, an indigenous YA urban fantasy, and a queer second-world fantasy about the rise of facism. March was a mostly positive month of reading for me, with all but one book scoring 4 stars or higher, and I’ve found a new favourite in Patrick Radden Keefe’s brilliant Say Nothing. Unfortunately The Raven Tower, which was one of my most-anticipated books of 2019, fell flat, but 5/6 ain’t bad!
The Librarian’s Guide to Homelessness by Ryan Dowd The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie + RTC Normal People by Sally Rooney + RTC Say Nothingby Patrick Radden Keefe + RTC Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse + Review Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly (re-read) + RTC
Book of the Month:Say Nothing is the only book I’ve read so far this year that I am certain will wind up on my year-end list of favourites. I’m interested in Irish history and have visited Belfast before so I had an abstract knowledge of the conflict in Northern Ireland known as “the Troubles”, but Say Nothing sets out clearly the day-to-day existence of living through this period, contextualizes the events of the Troubles, and relates the murder and disappearance of Jean McConville, widowed mother of ten. It’s not always an easy book to read, but it’s deeply compelling and will haunt me for a long time.
Least Favourite: Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy and Provenance, her standalone story set in the same universe, are among my all-time favourites, but I was bitterly disappointed by the author’s first foray into fantasy. The Raven Toweris an experiment that just did not work for me at all. The characters are kept at arm’s length so I never connected with them, the pace can only be described as glacial, and although I stubbornly kept reading, I should have DNF-ed this because the pay-off is just not there.
*** Seen on Stage: The Toronto theatre scene is traditionally strongest in the Fall and Winter, and this was no exception!
My March highlight was undoubtedly the immersive, site-specific production of Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Don Jail. The Don Jail, a former prison and the site of a number of hangings before capital punishment was abolished in Canada, provided an appropriately atmospheric and creepy venue. Despite the uncomfortable seating, I was blown away by the cast, whose voices were accentuated by the fabulous acoustics of the jail. Fingers crossed for a remount because the short run was sold out before it even opened and I would brave the discomfort of tall metal bar stools again for a second opportunity to see this brilliant production!
I had been looking forward to Schools Girls ever since the season announcement thanks to glowing reviews of the off-Broadway production, and sure enough I loved this hilarious and yet poignant show that deals with issues like shadeism, racism, and classicism in a nuanced way.
I also loved getting to see two National Ballet casts dance Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It’s the perfect ballet to introduce young audiences to dance and I loved seeing two up-and-coming ballerinas tackle the lead role with completely different, yet valid, interpretations. I wasn’t as thrilled with the mixed program, finding Balanchine’s Apollo a little dull for my liking (although there’s some intricate partnering there). Night was a welcome company debut for Canadian choreographer Julia Adam though, and I enjoyed the very classical flourish of Paquita.
Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Don Jail by Eclipse Theatre Company Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by The National Ballet of Canada (x2) School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play by Obsidian Theatre in association with Nightwood Theatre Apollo; The Sea Above, The Sky Below; Night; and Paquita by The National Ballet of Canada
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Coming up in April: I’ll be continuing my read of the Nebula nominees for Best Novel with Witchmark and Blackfish City. I’m also anxious/excited about the release of Amnesty, the final book in the Amberlough Dossier series, on April 16th! The most exciting news though is that I’ll be visiting Rachel for an extended weekend vacation in April. I look forward to showering her beautiful cats with affection, reading and chatting books, and enjoying the beauty of Vermont!
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Spotlight on Stories 