Speculative Fiction

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

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by T.J. Klune
First sentence: “Stepping off the ferry and onto the island for the first time in decades, Arthur Parnassus thought he’d burst into flames then and there.”
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Others in the series: The House in the Cerulean Sea
Release date: September 10, 2024
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is talk of abuse and a couple of moments of actual abuse. There is talk of trauma and CPTSD. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

I have to admit: I didn’t think this book was necessary. The House in the Cerulean Sea is an absolute delight of a book that ended quite satisfactorily. However, I am also not sad to spend more time on Marsyas Island with Arthur, Linus, and the children, and this book makes the case that it needs to exist.

This picks up soon after Cerulean Sea – the government is holding hearings to determine the future of the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. Arthur, having lived in an orphanage when he was young and is currently the headmaster of one, decides to face things and goes to testify. Which, of course, goes horribly wrong. So, another inspector is sent out to see what Arthur, Linus, and the children are up to and if the home is up to DICOMY standards.

Nothing – and everything – goes right.

Much like the first book, this is less about the plot and more about the characters. I adore the children – from Sal stepping into his own as a young man and a leader, to Talia and Phee, to Lucy and Chauncy, and David, the newest one – a yeti who has been on the run since his parents were brutally murdered. I adore Arthur and Linus and their relationship, and the way they wholly support and love each other. I can tell that Klune is angry at all the laws that are being passed targeting LGBT youth – especially the trans bills – and that they’re being done in the name of “protecting the children” and he harnesses that anger to good effect here. There are some absolute laugh-out-loud moments and some pages that are so beautifully written and so moving that I could hardly see the page for my tears.

So, no, while this book was not “needed”, it is wanted and welcome, and I’ll happily read anything else Klune decides to write about this family.

Audiobook: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

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by Heather Fawcett
Read by Ell Potter & Michael Dodds
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some intense moments, and it’s a bit slow at times. It’s in the Science Fiction/ Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Emily Wilde has been working on her Encyclopedia of Faeries, documenting as many as she can, for years. And she’s finally gotten funding to go do a field study of the Hidden Ones in Hrafnsvik. She arrives just as winter’s beginning, and because she’s not a terribly personable person, she gets off on the wrong foot. Enter Wendell Bambleby, her colleague from Cambridge, who has followed her to Hrafnsvik. Together – unwillingly at first, on Emily’s part – they win over the villagers, gather stories of the faeries, and quite possibly fall in love.

This one was utterly delightful, particularly on audio. I think I would have liked it in print, but on audio, the story just popped. Both of the narrators were excellent, capturing Emily’s and Wendell’s personalities, as well as those of the villagers around them. (Side note: the jacket blurb for this book calls Emily “curmudgeonly”, but she’s not. It’s never explicitly stated, but the character is most likely on the autism spectrum.) Although the plot is super loose – at one point, Emily wakes up a faerie king and gets trapped in the frozen faerie lands – it’s still a delightful read.

Witch King

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by Martha Wells
First sentence: “Waking was floating to the surface of a soft world of water, not what Kai had expected.”
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Content: There is violence, and some swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

If you read the jacket summary of the book, you don’t get a whole lot of information. Kai, a demon, has just woken up from being entombed, to find the government coalition he helped form falling apart. This is all true, but the plot is so much more than that. It’s part mystery: Kai and his friends have to figure out why he (and his witch friend, Ziede) was entombed and where Ziede’s wife, an Immortal Marshall is also missing. It’s partly a telling of colonial conquerors and how Kai helped (almost accidentally) overthrow them. It’s a friendship story, one of trust both made and broken. And it’s an adventure story, as you get to see more of the world that Wells has created.

I’ve only ever read the Murderbot series by Wells, but I trust her writing. She’s an excellent world-builder (I could see some of the same elements that I really enjoyed in the Murderbot books) and I liked the magic system she created. She’s got great characters – both main and secondary – and she knows how to make readers care for them. There are Stakes here, and people could die at any point (well, not Kai, since he’s a demon). It was a really great book, and I appreciated that it stood on its own, while leaving threads open to follow, if she chooses to write more.

I don’t know if I’ll go back and read some of her older books, but I quite enjoyed this one.

Blood Justice

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by Terry J. Benton-Walker
First sentence: “Granny was dead, and no one gave a damn — a truth that Velntine Savant choked on for the entirety of her grandparents’ poorly attended joint funeral service.”
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Release date: April 23, 2024
Others in the series: Blood Debts
Content: There’s a lot of violence and a lot of swearing, including many f-bombs. It will be in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Blood Debts, obviously.

There’s so much going on in this book it’s going to be hard to sum up. Let’s just say Valentina’s grandparents are dead, and she hates her parents and wants revenge on the Trudeau twins and get her power back, and will do anything to it. Clem has an undead (or mostly alive?) boyfriend that he’s been hiding from the world while he tries to figure out how to more alive him. Cris is Angry at Everything and Everyone and is taking Justice into her own hands. Adults are somewhere in there, but not doing much of anything. And there’s an unhinged evil god lurking around.

I was talking to co-workers about this one and this sentence came out of my mouth: “It’s like Riverdale, but with magic and set in New Orleans.” Honestly, that’s the most accurate description for this train wreck of a book. It’s so very soap-y and twisty and all the 16-year-old are acting like grown adults and like children at the same time. Everyone is always so full of Guilt and Secrets and Plots, it’s ridiculous.

And yet. I finished it. I am invested in this silly, overly dramatic, very Queer soap opera. I do want to know how it ends, though i think Benton-Walker could drag it out as long as he wanted to; much like Riverdale, Something is always happening to put the Teens in Peril. Why does it have to end? I do appreciate Benton-Walker tackling racisim, homophobia, the abuse by cops, and general corruption in politics. It’s a lot to deal with, but it’s a lot of a book, so it fits in well.

I think this one gets filed under: it’s a hot mess of a book and not much fun at all, but it’s compelling, and so it’s worth reading.

Hogfather

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by Terry Pratchett
First sentence: “Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree.”
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Others in the series: It’s part of the Death cycle in Discworld, but you can read it as a standalone.
Content: It’s Terry Pratchett. Do we really need to discuss content? It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

It’s Hogswatchnight, and mostly everything is normal in Ankh-Morpork, with celebrations and everything. Except it’s not okay: the Hogfather has gone missing. And in order to save humanity (just go with it), Death has taken over the Hogfather’s duties. (Albeit very awkwardly.) Once Death’s granddaughter Susan realizes things are not right, she embarks on a journey to find out what happened to Hogfather.

I have been meaning to read this for years. I love it whenever I visit Discworld; Pratchett’s humor and observations hit the spot. I giggle, I cry, I am amused and delighted at the characters. It’s a maze of a book; I was sometimes wondering where the plot was going, but I trust Sir Terry and he did not disappoint. I adored Susan, and in the end, Sir Terry pulled off a remarkably delightful book.

Bride

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by Ali Hazelwood
First sentence: “This war of ours, the one between the Vampyres and the Weres, began several centuries ago with brutal escalations of violence, culminated amid flowing torrents of varicolored blood, and ended in a whimper of buttercream cake, on the day I met my husband for the first time.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: February 6, 2024
ARC pilfered from the shelves at my place of employment.
Content: This is very, sweary, very violent, and very, very spicy. Quite a bit of on-screen interspecies sex. It will be in the romance section of the bookstore.

Misery is used to being, well, miserable. Having spent her entire childhood as the Vampyre collateral in the human world, she never really fit in with her people. And because she’s a vampyre, she doesn’t fit in with the humans, even though she’s been “passing” for a few years. And now, as she’s being “given” (generous word; forced? compelled?) to be the bride of the Were alpha, she figures it will just be another place she doesn’t fit in. In fact, the only person she cares about is Serena, her companion in childhood and best friend, who has gone missing. Misery is determined to figure out what happened to Serena, and she won’t let anyone – least of all her Were husband – get in her way.

The only other Ali Hazelwood book I’ve read is her YA Check & Mate, which was cute, so I really don’t have a frame of reference for her books. On the one hand, she’s doing some fascinating things with vampire and werewolf lore. I liked that she leaned into them being different species, and the politics of dealing between the three – humans, vampires, werewolves. I can see where she’s pulling things from – the idea of mates on the Were side, or how vampires drink pre-packaged blood – but I thought she had a fresh take.

The sex scenes were good, although, by the end, I had issues with the direction she was taking them. I just felt that Misery at the beginning was not quite the same character as Misery at the end. The best part of this one, though, was the secondary characters. They were a lot of fun and kept me going through the book. There was a pretty good twist I didn’t see coming, but it didn’t bother me. I thought it was pretty clever. i am guessing it’s going to be a series, based on the ending, and I do have to admit that I’m curious as to where Hazelwood is going to take the story.

Audiobook: Bookshops & Bonedust

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by Travis Baldree
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Legends & Lattes
Content: There is swearing, including many f-bombs, and some violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

In this prequel to Legends & Lattes, Viv finds herself injured and unexpectedly laid up due to an injury in the seaside town of Murk. She’s accustomed to being active, so having to convalesce is not something she wants to do. In her wandering around the down, she discovers a run-down bookshop whose owner, Fern, struggles to make ends meet. Viv discovers the benefit of knowing a good bookseller (!) and falls into a friendship with Fern. She also has a sweet summer romance with a baker in town. And, on top of everything, there’s a mysterious man in gray who leaves behind (well – he dies, so kinda) a bag full of bones that turns out to be a homunculus named Satchel.

Like the first one, not much happens in this book. (Granted, more happens in this than in the first one.) But, it’s still sweet, charming, super cozy, and enjoyable. The characters are fun, and the world Baldree has created is clever. I have really come to enjoy his narration as well; it’s incredibly engaging. So, no, there’s not a lot of plot in these, but they are so much fun to listen to. 

Audiobook: Iron Flame

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by Rebecca Yarros
Read by Rebecca Soler & Teddy Hamilton
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: Fourth Wing
Content: It’s super sweary, super violent, and lots of on-screen sexytimes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for Fourth Wing, obviously.

This picks up right after the events of Fourth Wing, with Violet recovering from the venin attack. From there, they go back to Basgaith for graduation and year two. But this year is a lot different. First off, Xaden and his dragon are stationed away from the War college so he and Violet are basically forced to spend their weekends together because of their bonded dragons. Of course, they don’t mind. (#sexytimes) Then there’s the wacked-out, facist new head of the war college, who has it out for Violet – like to the point of nearly killing her several times. And then there’s the whole rebellion and the fact that Navarre is hiding the impending Doom from its citizens. 

On the one hand, Soler is still delightfully unhinged (especially sped up 1.5x) and makes these books enjoyable. Because, there’s so much that is just plot holes. I was actually shouting at the audiobook this time; Violet – nay, all the characters, really – were just slow and not askign the right questions. And there were several WTH moments. And then there was the fact that it was just a LOT. A LOT of violence. A LOT of sex. A LOT of trying to make relationship work. A LOT, period. 

Will I read the next one? Maybe. Probably. They’re still fun, even if this one wasn’t as much fun as Fourth Wing was. 

Audiobook: The Puppets of Spelhorst

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by Kate DiCamillo
Read by Allan Corduner
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s a short book, and there isn’t anything objectionable. It’s in the Beginning Chapter section of the bookstore (grades 1-2) but it could go older.

Once upon a time, there were five puppets: A girl, a boy, a wolf (with very sharp teeth), an owl, and a king. They were happy in the shop of the puppet maker, but they longed to go on adventures. Then one day, an old man saw the face of his lost love in the eyes of the girl puppet, and the toymaker would sell just her, so they all were bought. From there, they had adventures, first at the old man’s house, then with the junk man, after the old man died, and finally in a home with two young girls who put on a play with the puppets.

That’s it for the plot. And yet, because it’s Kate DiCamillo, it’s a lovely fairy tale, one I enjoyed listening to, even as an adult. Much like The Tale of Despereaux or The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, it’s a story to be read aloud, to be enjoyed together. It’s a simple story, but there are profound moments, silly moments, and tender moments. It’s probably not my favorite DiCamillo out there, but it is a lovely one that will delight many children (and their parents/guardians/teachers).

Audiobook: Vengeance of the Pirate Queen

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by Tricia Levenseller
Read by: Krissi Bohn
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Release date: November 7, 2023
Others in the series: Daughter of the Pirate King, Daughter of the Siren Queen
Content: There is a lot of violence, including some that is directed against women. It will be in the YA section of the bookstore.

At the end of my review, for Daughter of the Siren Queen, I mentioned that I wouldn’t mind spending more time with Alosa and her crew. Which is precisely what Levenseller delivered. Sorinda is Alosa’s – who is now the Pirate Queen – assassin, spending her time in the shadows, taking care of the evil men who wish Alosa and her band of woman pirates ill. But, Alosa’s next assignment for Sorinda is different: captain a crew to sail north, looking for spies they haven’t heard from in too long. 

Sorinda reluctantly takes the position – she is much more used to the shadows than the spotlight – and sails north. But what they find is a lot of trouble – first, a beastie that is intent on destroying the ship, and then a hostile people who have been protecting the undead King of the Undersea – who also controls the undead – from being woken for a thousand years. Of course, Sorinda (accidentally) awakens him, after which he is intent on making her his mate. Of course, that won’t happen; Sorinda is much too fiercely independent for such things. But it’s an absolute ride getting there. 

The only real complaint I have about the book is the fact that Sorinda is a Black woman. I get being inclusive, but Levenseller isn’t Black, and even if it’s a fantasy world, it doesn’t mean she gets to write a Black main character. That said, I did like Sorinda as a character: she was fierce and capable, and solved her own problems. The undead king was a LOT for a villain – I thoroughly hated him and was super happy with the end he got. The romance was a bit meh, but I wasn’t reading this book for the romance. Bohn was an excellent narrator, which definitely helped with my enjoyment of this one. 

It’s not a bad continuation of a good series.