The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal - Perhaps the word that I can best use to describe this book (and it has already appeared in this review) is the word charming. Tesla and Shal are charming, so is Gimlet, and the story is just a fun romp that itself is charming. Charming can sometimes come across as “too cute” for its own good, but MRK is a smart enough writer to keep that charming element that is a comforting blanket over the whole novel at just the right level. Although The Spare Man is not marked as the first book in a series, it certainly can work that way. I for one would love to follow Tesla and Shal throughout the galaxy solving crimes and having adventures.
The Bladed Faith (The Vagrant Gods #1) by David Dalglish - David Dalglish has published over 25 novels since 2010, many of them in the same secondary world of Dezrel (The Half-Orcs, Shadowdance). With The Bladed Faith, Dalglish launches a new world and a new series entitled Vagrant Gods. In it, young prince Cyrus of Thanet watches his parents and gods Endarius the Lion and Lycaena the Butterfly murdered by an invading army of the Everlorn Empire. Cyrus is shocked to see this transpire before his eyes. ... A lot happens in this novel, The Bladed Faith very much fits the term Epic. But is only the first installment of a trilogy! Dalglish reveals his story and characters at a measured pace I very much appreciated, with a balanced approach to character, action, backstory, and worldbuilding. It was fun, it was epic, energetic, and addictive. In short, The Bladed Faith is very strongly in my Epic Fantasy wheelhouse. Even before I finished the novel, I knew the second book in the series, The Sapphire Altar would be very high on my anticipated reads list.
Lucky Girl: or How I Became A Horror Writer: A Krampus Story by M. Rickert - This is by no means an uplifting Christmas ghost story, but it is gripping and rife with dread and tension. The only minor issue I had with the story was that for a horror writer, Ro was not quite genre-savvy to recognize some of the horrific elements she was experiencing. That in itself is a trope, characters of horror stories being somewhat unaware of the nature of the darkness plaguing them so perhaps that is what Rickert was playing with in this story.
T. Kingfisher published two genre works this year, and I read both of them, moist recently What Moves the Dead, which is a retelling of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” with a non-binary character who happens to be a retired lieutenant named Alex Easton. Alex visits the Ushers to help her friend, Madeline thanks to Roderick (Madeline’s brother) request. The Ushers are not in good shape, they seem to be affected by a strange affliction. Adding another layer of creepiness are a few factors constantly seen on the grounds of the Usher mansion – staring, white rabbits, the strange lake on the grounds, and the proliferation of fungi.
There is a quirky cast of characters who surround Alex: Eugenia Potter, the mycologist (a scientist who studies fungi) and the American doctor James Denton. The three of them try to figure out what is plaguing the Ushers and if it can be remedied.
This was a strange, weird, and fascinating story. Largely because of the fungus element, I was reminded of Jeff VanderMeer’s Ambergris stories. Kingfisher has one of the more unique and enjoyable points-of-view in the genre and I’ll continue to read her work as it publishes.
Rachel Harrison’s Such Sharp Teeth is a Mount Rushmore-level Werewolf novel. I read Harrison’s debut novel The Return earlier in the year and I was very impressed so I was excited to try her new (in 2022) novel which was about werewolves. Well, one werewolf in particular. Harrison tells the tale of Rory (short for Aurora) Morris, who returns to her hometown to be by the side of her twin sister Scarlett during the last weeks of her pregnancy. On the way there, Rory is bitten by a creature and she finds her body going through changes. She’s stronger and transforms during the full moon. Harrison does a fantastic job of paralleling the experiences of the twin sisters, and telling a compelling, addictive story. I read it over the course of two days.
I had to bail on the second book in an epic fantasy series I was really looking forward to reading, I just couldn't connect as the narrative felt very scattered. I think it may have been a case of “me, not the book,” but a book that size (and the predecessor was just as large) would very much benefit from a recap page and cast of characters page.
After that unfortunate book, I moved onto R.S. Belcher’s Six-Gun Tarot, which is the first book in his Golgotha Weird-Western fantasy series. This guy is criminally under-read, he writes wonderful, genre-bending stories. The kinds of books/stories that when you look at the superficial ingredients, you shake you head and ask yourself, how in the hell is this going to work. But he makes it work. I read the third book, Queen of Swords five(!) years ago and liked it very much. This one introduces readers to a young man named Jim on his way to Golgotha. Jim’s got a magic eye from his deceased(?) father and somehow gets deputized shortly before arriving at Golgotha. Maude, a young witchy woman, is another featured character. Belcher tells the novel going between the “current” storyline as well as Flashbacks that show the “origins” of Maude and Jim. There’s also a powerful, dark presence (maybe it is an Elder God like Cthulhu?) on the outskirts of Golgotha and oh yeah, we see chapters that peek into the War in Heaven or what lead to the War in Heaven and Lucifer’s fall. Heady, all over the place stuff, but it makes sense within the pages.
All of my Audiobook time in December was dedicated A Crown of Swords, the seventh Robert Jordan Wheel of Time novel. I’m still enjoying the trek through Randland.
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