Note: I received an ebook copy of The Scorpion Rules from the publisher, via NetGalley. This has not influenced the content of the review as I cannot be bought for a simple ebook and would require at least a comfy armchair before I would even consider compromising my integrity. Does the world need yet another story about a plucky white heroine in a dystopic future world and a love triangle? I might have said no before reading The Scorpion Rules, but I’d have missed out on a genuinely excellent book. Greta is a Child of the Peace: a hostage for…
21 CommentsCategory: 4 Stars
Trumpet came out in 1998 and that is surprising. Remember 1998, y’all? In 1998 the nation was having enormous arguments about Gay/Straight Alliances in high schools, and I was sitting in the backseat of my friend’s dad’s car and staring blankly at my friend because she had just said she didn’t approve of the gay lifestyle and I had not up to that point realized that humans of my acquaintance held views of this type. Also in 1998: Scottish poet and author Jackie Kay wrote a book called Trumpet about a non-tragic trans character. Way to go, 1998. You were…
8 CommentsNote: I received an e-galley of Sorcerer to the Crown from the publisher for review consideration. Some brilliant person described this book on Twitter a while ago as a postcolonial Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I have been all about it ever since. Zen Cho’s debut novel tells the story of Zacharias Wythe, the first ever black Sorcerer to the Crown. Suspected of involvement in the death of his predecessor, Zacharias becomes enmeshed in a political conflict among magical parties in (what is not yet) Malaysia, fights for his position against an interloper magician recently returned from the realm…
29 CommentsI do not. Do. Serial killers. I bring this up to explain the multi-year gap between reading the first volume of Locke and Key (like 2011ish I want to say?) and now, finishing the series. The first volume gets kinda serial-killer-y, is my recollection, and I did not care for that. I will not abide with stories about serial killers, except I guess that one time I made an exception for Lauren Beukes because everyone said “definitely definitely make an exception for Lauren Beukes” okay but apart from that, NO EXCEPTIONS. Locke and Key, incidentally, is not about serial killers. It’s about…
19 CommentsNote: I received an advance e-book edition of Wylding Hall from the publisher, Open Road Media, for review consideration. At last, an Elizabeth Hand book suited to my needs! In the past when I have tried books by Elizabeth Hand, most of those attempts undocumented in this space because writing “meh” reviews is boring, I have found her books either dull or unsatisfying. But her new book, Wylding Hall, makes the most of its ellipses, letting the reader’s mind fill them with the very spookiest of explanations. Wylding Hall is set up as an oral history of the famed (fictional)…
15 Comments