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The Jasmine Throne - Tasha Suri (Burning Kingdoms Trilogy #1)

4/5 - love me some toxic yuri; pacing is a little slow for my tastes;

Spoilers below!

Let me start with the obvious: this book is about lesbians!! And they don't hate each other but they would kill each other at the drop of a hat and let me tell you, that makes for some delicious relationship building. Malini and Priya are trusted allies and reluctant partners and lovers and the power dynamics here are all over the place. Needless to say, it compelled me. Priya's own complicated backstory further deepens the plot here.

The plot is somewhat predictable, but I wouldn't put that down to an overuse of foreshadowing. If anything, it's a great use of foreshadowing and I've just been reading too many fantasy novels

I will say that I didn't love pacing - the novel dragged at times, with repetitive statements about the transgressiveness of desire and vengeance that lose their bite after the first two or three utterances. Furthermore, it felt that the novel relied much more on telling me things and less on showing.

The political discussion on rebellion and rebellious violence here was also a very classic split - one side embraces rebellion and the need for violence, while the other strives for the protection and preservation of art and culture through peace. Neither are wrong and the book doesn't entirely paint one or the other as the right decision - rather it almost becomes so entrenched in the negatives of either side that Priya can't ever make a firm decision on her path forward.

But, to end on a positive note, I absolutely loved Bhumika and can't wait to see more of her. With a touch of unreliable narration, the two main characters tell us (over and over) about how they're constantly underestimated and overlooked because they're women. Yet they both do the same thing to Bhumika, who is one of the more politically shrewd minds in the cast. Having her come out on top as a ruthless fighter and a winner was something very special to me

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The Bone Doll's Twin - Lynn Flewelling (Tamír Triad #1)

4.5/5 - the gender that's going on here ... ; a proper ghost story here; very slow pacing

SPOILERS BELOW!

First, special shoutout to @lamaery for putting me on - this was a delight, I'm putting a hold on the next two books at the library as we speak.

I'm going to start with Tobin's gender dysphoria. It's a really intriguing trans-narrative. I can't quite say it's subtle, because the circumstances of Tobin's birth hang over every page like the hammer about to fall, but it's somehow not omnipresent. You can feel it in other POVs, but from Tobin's there's simply the sense that something feels wrong to him. I'll have to read the others to find out where this one goes.

The cold opening is also excellent. Beginning the entire series with the death of an innocent for the greater good ... it's certainly a potent hook.

I will say that I found the pacing to be a bit slow and the ending a bit abrupt, but nothing that would stop me from reading the other books in the trilogy.

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Princess of the Sword - Lynn Kurland (Nine Kingdoms #3)

4/5 - a return to competent Morgan! ; the secondary cast of characters is actually so enjoyable in these books

A fitting conclusion and a nice happy ending! I particularly enjoy how even though our main characters are not starkly affected, there are still consequences to the big bad. Also, I like that Morgan seems more herself again.

I will say that Kurland is a big fan of reusing the same phrases (and in some cases exact sentences) when she likes them which can be a little annoying. It's not overwhelmingly so, but it does prickle my nerves sometime.

This is also a YA book! The series is not meant to be a "romance" for adults which is why it's not overly dark, the writing isn't overly serious, and the romance isn't overly sexy. A 13-year-old would love it (and I did).

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The Mage's Daughter - Lynn Kurland (Nine Kingdoms, #2)

3.75/5 - Main character and the elves are delightful, but Morgan's skill is so downplayed in this book

Look, I understand that Morgan & Miach are in love and that he wants to protect her. But having her continuously go to tears and forgive him for everything automatically even after he keeps information from her that Morgan arguably deserves to have more than he does leaves me annoyed. Also because this book seems determined to show that Miach is powerful and capable of matching Morgan, and Kurland shows this by minorly nuking Morgan's capabilities.

Still very classic fantasy and still very good, I just wish we covered more ground in this installment. Morgan's tragic backstory remaings one of my favorites of all time.

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Star of the Morning - Lynn Kurland (The Nine Kingdoms, #1)

4/5 - classic fantasy with an excellence romance side/subplot

Morgan is such a dear character to me, and I love the way they weave in hints of her backstory throughout this novel. The writing isn't the best I've ever encountered, but it feels very like a homecoming to me. My aunt gave these books to me when I was younger, so they've got a good sense of nostalgia sewn into them.

Anyway, I love the ending and I love that the romance doesn't require the main character to be anyone but herself. Also, Miach should've been hit with worse when she realized he lied to her. <3

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The Stone Sky - N.K. Jemisin (Broken Earth #3)

4.5/5 - at times too cerebral for my tastes; very fitting pyhrric victory; the mother-daughter relationship in this book makes me SICK. I'm obsessed.

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!!

In an effort to keep this a bit more concise and to the point than my review for The Obelisk Gate, I'm structuring this review into three main sections:

Worldbuilding

Pacing & The Ending

Essun, Nassun, & their relationship

Worldbuilding

I deeply love that Jemisin devotes so much time to making sure that the worldbuilding here reflects on a (sub)textual level the point she's trying to convey regarding race, oppression, and the consequences of othering people. It's rich and allows for a really nuanced exploration into what it means to consider people subhuman, what that does to their psyche, and what that exposes about that society. The section about the "Briar Patch" is ... particularly horrifying. A match to the scene in The Fifth Season with the node maintainer in terms of sheer banal evil.

I do feel, however, that sometimes the commitment to this description and this worldbuilding on every page interfered with getting to know some of the characters. Obviously Essun, Nassun, Schaffa, etc. are very well-developed, but characters like Tonkee, Ykka, and Lerna felt very one-note at times. Since our main characters are in their own heads so much, it doesn't really feel like we really get to know anyone else - though that could be a narrative technique given Essun's tendency to misunderstand or underestimate her relationships with others. Either way, I personally wanted to see a little bit more interaction between everyone.

Pacing & The Ending

At times, the book dragged for me. I think this may be because I felt some scenes with Schaffa and Nassun were somewhat repetitive, but I understand the need to keep them in. They each show something different and unique and horrifying, to be perfectly honest, about their relationship and Nassun's underlying traumas.

The ending, however, was everything I could ask for. It's felt all along like Essun wouldn't survive this, but through books one and two, I had imagined more of a go-down-swinging type of exit. This one was, frankly, all the more heartbreaking. She loved her daughter more than she loved humanity, more than she loved herself.

And what a blow for Nassun. To be orphaned twice over, basically, and to have a hand in the death of each of your parental figures makes my heart ache for her. She's so young to have experienced the world like this. It's especially tragic and fitting, as far as endings go, that she loses her orogeny at the end of the series. It's not a stretch to say that Nassun literally lost everyone who ever loved her and a part of herself she loved (and an arm!). What ultimately brought her the most happiness was also the seeds of her own personal tragedy.

Essun, Nassun, & their relationship

Few things have made me more sick, angry, and deeply conflicted than the twisted ties between Nassun, Essun, & Schaffa. How tragic to be so traumatized by even the attempt to live a normal life that you inflict the same pain upon your child. That your abuser can recognize your actions as wrong. That there's no way you could have known any different!

That said, Essun being afraid of her daughter and understanding that she is afraid of Nassun because Nassun is just like her was, again, deeply sad and frustrating on my part. It was understandable, because even as Essun has attempted to accept the whole of her life, who she is, and what she's done, good and bad, she hasn't really forgiven herself for it. She hasn't forgiven herself for being born powerful and stubborn and ambitious and seeing those traits reflected back in her daughter made her frightened!

From Nassun's point of view, for her to know, but not quite understand, that Schaffa had a hand in making Essun who she was and is, made me as the reader miserable. Schaffa is treating her better than many of the adult figures in her life. But he's also grooming her into a weird, toxic, codependent relationship that only serves to confirm Nassun's impression of her mother as someone who doesn't (or can't) love her when Schaffa is literally the reason that Essun acts and parents the way that she does. It goes round in circles and makes me sick and ill and I will be thinking about this for the foreseeable future I fear.

Overall - an excellent book and an excellent series that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a dense high fantasy or science fiction story. It packs a punch!

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The Obelisk Gate - N.K. Jemisin (Broken Earth #2)

4.75/5 - stunning characterization; raises the stakes in a great way; Nassun my sweet girl :(

Spoilers below!

Before I start waxing poetic about the mother-daughter relationship here, allow me my one gripe: I am still not enamored by the use of second-person POV here. I'm used to it in this novel here, but I find that it's keeping me from really connecting with Essun in the way that I did with Syen or Damaya. And its totally possible that may be the point! Essun is distant from herself, so by placing the reader in a position where we're in her head but not her ... it's clever really.

Okay, so maybe I'm coming around to it as a narrative device.

Anyway, on to the things I liked which is just about everything else! Starting off with our main character, I love that Essun doesn't get over anything ... like ever. She holds all of her hurt and grief and pride and rage close to her chest and plays at being calm and collected but she isn't! Essun is decisive and brutal and sickly-sentimental-sweet and I love everything about her. Especially her prolific mistakes and their associated guilt that weighs heavy on her chest.

Speaking of Essun's guilt, let's switch gears to talk about Nassun, AKA my new favorite character maybe ever. For one thing, it's so interesting to thing of her as a child who is neurodivergent in a slightly different way than her mother, such that they can never actually understand each other. Add on the layers of Syen/Damaya and their trauma to Essun and you have a perfect storm.

The mother-daughter relationship between Nassun and Essun is also just delicious to me. Because it's so tragic. How could Essun have done differently, being who she is? Having such trauma related to being found for orogeny? Simultaneously, Nassun has done nothing to deserve this! Nassun can't know this about Essun! To her, her mother is just harsh and cold and doesn't love her! I'm sick and ill about them, allow that to suffice.

As a final note, Schaffa's role in this story is so fascinating to me. I did let out a very from-the-chest screech of "No!" when Nassun is joined by him and remained worried for her throughout the book. Even as he's changed, I can't help but see him as the person that broke Damaya's hand, that resulted in the death of Syen's entire family and her whole little world. What a fantastic way to bring him back in and twist this dynamic even further

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Ancillary Mercy - Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch, #3)

5/5 - Just the right mix of battle and political intrigue; i deeply love these characters and this premise

This novel took on a very appropriate goal for the end of the trilogy. Too often, I read a novel with incredibly high stakes that is unable to wrap itself up nicely (or at all) because there is simply too much to deal with. Ancillary Mercy is an exception to this pattern. Having Breq aim only for the safety of one or two systems in the face of a tyrant who's been around for two thousand years makes sense. It's realistic. It feels achievable.

The characters themselves are fascinating - I can't say that I've read something in recent memory which treats AIs as something "living" and "breathing" that changes over time. Indeed, the last book I read outside of this trilogy that discussed AI made the AI seem static and unyielding across time. Anyway.

I think the conclusion, while quick in some ways, makes the book feel all the more like a part of a real universe. Nothing is wrapped up quickly. Our main characters are still going to have to sit in meetings for months to figure this out and I loved it! We need more open-ended stories!

On a final note, the Presger and Translator Zeiat are two of my favorite pieces of the book. They're just so, well, alien! A treat to read to be sure.

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Ancillary Sword - Ann Leckie (Imperial Radch #2)

4.5/5 - lots of interesting questions; builds on the world established in the first, has our characters grow; no fun time jumps

Spoilers below!

Let me start with the bad, AKA the 0.5 knock. And truthfully, this wasn't even bad, as much as I just missed the storytelling device used in the first book. Linear storytelling is fun, but I love a little nonlinear as a treat, and Leckie pulled this off unbelievably well in hat novel.

But on to the good!

This book does an excellent job of moving the pace along at a reasonable speed, abiding by space physics, and of keeping our characters in such a state that the reader has to ask themselves some questions too.

To the first, I love that this book doesn't allow itself to get bogged down in the details. The flavor of every tea isn't necessarily important. Details around the room are sparse, but enough to give you a sense of the space. You're filling in the gaps from a lot of character interactions because Leckie trusts that you'll be able to put some things together on your own. Frankly, I prefer this very purposeful, precise prose to the more flowerly, descriptive language elsewhere.

To the second - space is big y'all! It would take a while for messages to send and for people to move. The miracle/magic/science of the Presger is that they can move so quickly and without anyone knowing. I also lovee that the final fight relies on zero grav and the problems associated with decrepit infrastructure in space. What a plot device, man.

And lastly, to the third. This book asks you to think about privilege, even unwilling/unwitting privilege, and how that automatically orders the way you view the world. How that structures the way your help can or should come. I know that this is something I'll have to think about more than others, since I am white and American, but in today's day and age, it really does make you think about how people should be creating the space for the marginalized to speak for themselves and on their own behalf.

And there's of course more gay and genderqueer people (if you were to ask me for Breq's gender, I couldn't tell you. They're genderless to me) and some excellent space empire politics. I really can't recommend this series enough.

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The Stars Undying - Emery Robin (Empire Without End #1)

3.25/5 - space Rome, Cleopatra, & Caesar; very rough characterization here; somewhat interesting qualms about AI, immortality, and personhood

I wanted to like this book. I really did. It was recommended as being similar to both Martine and Leckie, both of whom I love, so I cracked this one open expecting to settle into one of my favorite genres. And while The Stars Undying does technically include all the hallmarks of operatic science fiction, what with the politicking, rich worldbuilding, minimal backstory, and tendency to feature events on a grand, sweeping scale, I found that each of these was somehow lacking.

Robin relies heavily on the concept of telling over showing in this novel and those are two methods of storytelling that, in my opinion, have to be very finely balanced. I understand that this is a politics-heavy novel, but it feels criminal that we do not see any of the scenes where the plot-relevant events occur.

However, my main gripe is that everything in this book feels shallow. It feels like I'm looking into a pool with the bottom painted to make it look deceptively deep. Every single one of these concepts felt flimsy and underexplored, a facet that was reflected in the characterization. Altagracia didn't have a distinctly different voice compared to Ceirran and moreover, I didn't find myself particularly compelled by her style of unreliable narration (which I usually like!). You can only pull the "Oh no. I lied about that earlier" so many times before I find myself uninterested in continuing to listen to your narration.

I can appreciate the Cleopatra retelling, but I really did not love the romance here as it causes the plot to grind to a stuttering halt for the middle 50% of the novel. I would've preferred that Robin also diverge somehow from the historical beats, particularly because I don't feel like she made them feel like they were impactful.

I could continue, but suffice to say I was unimpressed. Everything in this book is done better elsewhere, in either "A Memory Called Empire" or "Ancillary Justice", reviews of which are on my page.

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The Truth of the Aleke - Moses Ose Utomi (Forever Desert #2)

4/5 - tragedy; in our search for truth sometimes we are too willing to accept evil; this just in, propaganda works on everyone!

Spoilers below!

I didn't realize that there was a "first" book in this series, but as they function basically as two independent entities, I'm not too worried about it.

That said, this whole book is just tragedy after tragedy. Osi is as he is, and he can't escape that causing problems for himself and for his city. There's also something to be said here for how quickly our main character succumbs to propaganda. It's so clear that he just wants someone to be honest with him, so when Osi discovers the lies of the Truthseekers, he's only too willing to believe whoever "explains" the reality of the situation, never mind the potential bias still there.

It's a timely reminder of how no one is exempt from sacrifice and propaganda. Nor is anyone guaranteed that their desperation for hope and their good intentions will lead them to happier ends.

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Maktub - Paulo Coelho

3.75/5 - lots of meaningful messages here; little snippet stories; heavy on vaguely Christian faith at times

I genuinely really enjoy Coelho's The Alchemist, so I came into this collection of page-long stories with some high expectations. And not to say that this book didn't meet those expectations, but it should very much be read as a companion to The Alchemist.

Overall, I found many of the messages to be broadly applicable to faith and personhood in general, which is where most of my enjoyment came from. Some of the shorter tales involved "life lessons" that I don't agree with and the number of them is what takes this book from a 4 to a 3.5 for me.

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The World We Make - N.K. Jemisin (Great Cities #2)

4/5 - fun romp; bad physics; rushed ending with weird pacing throughout

I enjoyed this excursion back into the Great Cities world. Jemisin is a fantastic author and her typical creativity and sense of character really shine through in this novel. However, I regret to say that this book is not the masterpiece that its predecessor was.

From a Doylist perspective, Jemisin admits in the afterword that she lost passion for the book and no longer wanted to finish it but forced herself to. Unfortunately, this shows through in the book.

The ending to a multiversal threat wraps itself up via clearly explained monologue in a single chapter. Overall, a lot of the battles and problems felt ... underwhelming, to the point where I thought that this wasn't the final book in the series.

Additionally, the ending relied on a ... subpar ... understanding of quantum physics. That probably wasn't glaring to anyone else, but I am a staunch believer in fantasy and science fiction writers not using or relying on physics unless they can use it right.

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The Cruel Prince - Holly Black (The Folk of the Air #1)

3.75/5 - fairly good YA fantasy; more compelling female lead than I usually see; enemies-to-lovers in this novel was a letdown

I picked up this book because I mentioned it to my younger cousin and she recommended that I read it, so here I am, keeping my word!

Anyway, let's start with the positives. Jude is a very fun, compelling protagonist. She's actually bloodthirsty, she's taking matters into her own hands, she's overall a lot more agentive than many other YA protagonists. I will say that I found the writing of her internal monologue to get quite repetitive, but I don't think that's a flaw of the actual character.

As far as intrigue and plot go, this is perhaps a little darker than most YA fantasies, but I'd still say it fits best in that demographic. It's fairly standard in terms of the court problems and the familial concerns, but definitely still enjoyable. I can see why my younger cousin liked it so much!

As for the negative, I do think the worldbuilding is a little weak, as are some of the other characters. Most things are told and not shown (e.g. Jude states that she lives in fear for her life approximately once a chapter, but that fear isn't really felt).

The biggest question mark for me, however, was the love story. I have seen too many people on the internet talk about Jude and Cardan as the true enemies-to-lovers blueprint for him to actually be a soft individual who's weirdly obsessed with her. He didn't even want her dead! He just didn't like her. This fits for the 17-year-old definition of an enemy, but I think we should be using that trope a little less liberally in the future.

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Kingdom of Copper - S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #2)

4/5 - Nahri my best friend; Dara continues his long streak of bad decisions; the pacing of these books is weird ...

So first let me say that Nahri e-Nahid has never done anything wrong in her life and that if people would just give her the full picture instead of needlessly hiding things from her, she would be able to make better decisions overall. Even so, she makes very normal decisions given the information she has and her current circumstances.

I also loved Dara's plotline in this novel. He's doubling down! He's causing problems! He's blinded by his history! I just think a character that has been through so much should be making bad decisions. It makes sense that he isn't coping well with his own history and that he's bought into the sunk-cost fallacy.

My couple critiques are that the Daeva don't feel monumentally different from just people. There's nothing that's more dangerous or even exceedingly different from human society, and you could argue that this is because Suleiman divided them in such a fashion. However, to me , this is just a little weak as far as worldbuilding is concerned.

The pacing of these books is also deeply questionable at times. We skip five years like four chapters in with no warning or signal. Characters don't feel older, which makes sense for the Daeva since they're longer-lived, but Nahri should seem different. Her character should feel somewhat changed and it doesn't. I also just feel that this book doesn't have a plot that moves super far forward.

Still very good, but I do have some questions about it.

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The City of Brass - S.A. Chakraborty (The Daevabad Trilogy #1)

4.25/5 - fantastic lore; characters who deeply misunderstand and mistrust each other; y'all ever meet an unreliable narrator?

I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading the remainder of the trilogy! I think Nahri is a very compelling protagonist, if a little too trusting for a con artist and a thief. Her struggles with both her magic and her interpersonal relationships, while simultaneously trying to adjust to Daevabad, are really well written and I find her to be just charming (even when she's, objectively, being the worst)

The other POV character, Alizayd, was interesting for different reasons. He was so clearly prejudiced, so clearly set in his ways, and Chakraborty conveys that perfectly while also taking the time to systematically dismantle some of the views he shows. Unreliable narration at its finest, babey!

One thing that did knock it for me, in part due to my own expectations, was the setting. I expected full fantasy going in, since I entered the novel blind, or at least alternative history and this book wasn't really either. It begins firmly in the magical realism setting (which I deeply enjoy) before switching firmly into a fantastical setting, and that switch was a little jarring to me.

That said, I do find some of the pacing to be a little ... weird? Things move both very quickly and very slowly, and it was difficult to get a sense of time passing. Those are things that I look for in books to make them really sensational, and I just want a little more out of it for the next couple books.

Overall, fabulous debut novel and I am really excited to pick up Chakraborty's more recent work!

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Eon: Dragoneye Reborn - Alison Goodman (Eon #1)

3.75/5 - reread for the 10th time probably; gender ???? as a theme; deeply inspired by Chinese and Japanese religious beliefs and imperial traditions

Spoilers below!

I couldn't tell you exactly what it is that keeps me coming back to this book. Eona, as a protagonist, isn't particularly likeable, or even good at their job. Most of their time in this book spent being pushed around by other more powerful characters.

However, there's a certain sense of danger and a certain sense of gender questioning happening here that really draws me in and has drawn me in for near on 10 years now. This book, as the first in a duology, is a bit of a slog, but I find the next one all the more rewarding because of it. There is also positive and not-weird representation of transgender people and queer people here, which is a big plus. And in that vein, reading it now it's super clear to me that Eona is bisexual.

A major detractor, however, is the treatment of the main character's disability. She has a previous hip fracture that doesn't heal properly, resulting in a limp and chronic pain which prevent her from being able to perform certain movements and fighting stances. At the end of the book, she is insta-healed through bonding with her dragon properly for the first time, which is just a very ableist trope that I didn't appreciate. Especially because I feel like it removes some depth for the character later on.