Monthly Archives: August 2019

Book Review: The Hundredth Queen

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the hundredth queenThe Hundredth Queen
by Emily R. King
Young Adult / Fantasy / Romance
287 pages
Published 2017

This is the first book of a four-book series, and I already have the last three requested from the library, because this was a fun bit of fluff. HOWEVER. I’m a little ashamed that I enjoyed it so much, because there is SO MUCH WRONG HERE. Just off the top of my head, there’s fridging, instalove, women ritualistically competing for a man’s affection, and a woman who “isn’t pretty” and “isn’t special” yet beats other women in combat and has men obsessing over her. It reminds me a lot of Empress of All Seasons, except Empress wasn’t culturally appropriative, either! The author is white and lives in Utah, while writing about a culture that takes a lot from ancient India. (Though she says the religion is based on ancient Sumeria.)

The silly thing I keep coming back to is at the very beginning, Kalinda is gifted a carriage and horses as an engagement gift; yet they ditch the horses for camels to cross the desert on the last leg of their journey. Nice gift.

The world-building could use some work, but I expect that to be further explored in the rest of the series. I wish the romance had built more slowly and not been so instant; I always find it hard to believe the heroine can trust her lover so much when she DOESN’T EVEN REALLY KNOW HIM. Like – seriously?

While this is a fun, quick read, I can’t in good conscience recommend it.

From the cover of The Hundredth Queen:

HE WANTED A WARRIOR QUEEN. HE GOT A REVOLUTIONARY.

As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for nothing more than a life of seclusion and prayer. Plagued by fevers, she’s an unlikely candidate for even a servant’s position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to continue living in peace in the Sisterhood’s mountain temple.

But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda’s life. Within hours, she is ripped from the comfort of her home, set on a desert trek, and ordered to fight for her place among the rajah’s ninety-nine wives and numerous courtesans. Her only solace comes in the company of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik.

Faced with the danger of a tournament to the death – and her growing affection for Deven – Kalinda has only one hope for escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidden power buried within her.

Friday 56 – Wicked Fox

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wicked foxThe Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice. The rules are simple – turn to page 56 in your current read (or 56% in your e-reader) and post a few non-spoilery sentences.

This week’s quote is from Wicked Fox by Kat Cho, a modern fairy-tale-like book about a fox-girl and the boy who loves her.

Parts of conversations drifted over. She heard the words violent and freak. This was not a good start to a new school. And she was good at gauging that. She’d been in a dozen schools, and each had proven to be the same. Kids, no matter where they lived, just wanted to fit in. And that meant ridiculing anything and anyone that didn’t. Fitting in was practically against Miyoung’s genetic makeup. No matter how much she’d tried to match a mold, she always popped back out. A fox peg trying to fit into a human-shaped hole.

Book Review: Naamah

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naamahNaamah: A Novel
by Sarah Blake
Historical Fiction / LGBT
296 pages
Published April 2019

It took me until just now, staring at my screen, to realize those are supposed to be water droplets on the cover, distorting the image behind them. Fitting, with the huge part that water plays in this story. Most of the narrative takes place aboard the ark during the flood – water is ever-present and overwhelming.

Naamah is an odd novel. I can’t really explain why I chose to read it; I’d heard that Naamah was bisexual in the book, and I think maybe a queer, feminist retelling of a Bible story appealed to me? It then took me a month or so to get around to actually reading it because of the Bible story part!

The narrative, while always told from Naamah’s point of view, dips into her memories, where we learn about the widow Bethel, her lover before the flood, and into Naamah’s dreams, where we meet Sarai. Sarai, or Sarah, is Abraham’s wife in the future. Well. Naamah’s future. Our ancient past. Sarai shows Naamah the far future – our present – and claims to have ascended to near godhood. She seems to take pity on Naamah’s despair, trying to show her what her time on the ark begets later. It’s strange.

Naamah is clearly depressed, and sorting out her dreams from what is actually happening is difficult for both her and the reader, I think. The whole book is fuzzy and a little dream-like.

It’s interesting, but I can’t say I’d recommend it.

From the cover of Naamah:

With the coming of the Great Flood – the mother of all disasters – only one family is spared, left drifting on the endless waters, waiting for them to subside. We know the story of Noah, moved by divine word to build an ark and launch an escape. Now, in a work of astounding invention, Sarah Blake reclaims the story of his wife, Naamah, the matriarch who kept them alive. Here is the woman torn between faith and fury, lending her strength to her sons and their wives, caring for an unruly menagerie of restless creatures while silently mourning the lover she left behind. Here is the woman escaping into the unreceded waters, where a seductive angel tempts her to join a strange and haunted world. Here is the woman tormented by dreams and questions of her own – questions of devotion and self-determination, of history and memory, of the kindness or cruelty of fate.

In fresh and modern language, Blake revisits the story of the ark and discovers the agonizing burdens endured by the woman at the center of it all. Naamah is a parable for our time: a provocative fable of body, spirit, and resilience.

Library Loot Wednesday

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Just two books this week – Queen of Ruin, the sequel to Grace and Fury, and The Rage of Dragons, which looks to be an amazing debut fantasy by an author of color. I had to slow down after last week’s haul!

TTT – Cover Redesigns

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is my Top Ten Favorite (or least Favorite) cover redesigns. I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of “and then the movie came out and we got this godawful movie tie-in cover” but we’ll see!

So I think I’m going to do five I liked, and five I didn’t like.

Five I liked:

The whole Rebel of the Sands trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the first three covers too, but the redesign – unf. It’s AWESOME.

Gender Outlaw. I think the new cover (on the right) illustrates the mood of the book so much better.

And I recognize this one is an amazingly minor quibble, but give me the red and black cover for The Power any day. I strongly dislike the white one.

I guess technically that last one belongs in the next category, as I think the black and red was the first cover, and the white was the redesign. But I’m having trouble finding redesigns I like, so I’m leaving it.

Cover Redesigns I Hated:

Here we have the first cover I remember of this book, and Goodreads’ default cover. Give me the first one EVERY day. That redesign is – ugh. Makes it look like the whole book is about Smaug. I’m sure it’s largely nostalgia, but I loved those old 70s covers.

Another travesty of a redesign – most of Marguerite Henry’s books were re-released with terrible covers, I’ve found. The Mustang cover especially – the original’s art was gorgeous.

Pride prejudice2There have been a lot of covers of Pride and Prejudice, but this one is absolutely the worst. (I told you I’d get a movie tie-in cover in here!)

That’s ten for me!

Book Review: Unmentionable

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UnmentionableUnmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
by Therese Oneill
Nonfiction / Comedy / History
305 pages
Published 2016

This is a hysterically funny guide to what to expect in the Victorian era, assuming you are a 21st century woman who has been time-traveled there by some unidentified means. The author disabuses us of any romantic, Austen-like notions of what that era was like, instead talking about the real issues, like the lack of tampons or pads (or privacy!) or the infrequency with which you’d be allowed to bathe. She explains why; water was hardly clean at the time, sanitation was not exactly a well understood science back then!

Oneill manages to convey the differences between that time and ours in a unique voice that made me laugh out loud at points, even if it was slightly horrified laughter. Why does one wear uncomfortable boots instead of house slippers when one walks outside? Because you WILL step in crap, darling, and it might not always be animal in origin, either! She covers a wide range of topics, from your dress (don’t expect your outerdress to EVER be laundered!) to diet (don’t be too thin or too fat, and diet pills often have cocaine in them) to manners (don’t be caught alone, or with only a man, or with only an unmarried lady unless you are married yourself, no, best to just stay home, really) to how to relieve yourself (there’s a reason your bloomers are crotchless). Every chapter comes complete with quotes pulled from writers of the time, and period-appropriate illustrations, whether they are ads from newspapers or woodprints, photos, and other sketches.

Oneill does assume you’ve been brought back to a well-off family; she briefly mentions that things would be much worse if you were of a number of lower classes, but even a high-class life is a lot to get used to coming from the 21st century.

If you’ve ever thought you were born in the wrong era, read this book and remember just how good our modern conveniences and cultural attitudes are. (And giggle your ass off doing it!) I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and definitely learned a lot of trivia that I did not know before.

From the cover of Unmentionable:

Finally, a scandalous, illustrated guide to The Secrets of Life as a Victorian Lady, giving you detailed advice on:

  • What to wear
  • Where to relieve yourself
  • How to conceal your loathsome addiction to menstruating
  • What to expect on your wedding night
  • How to be the perfect Victorian wife
  • Why masturbating will kill you
  • And more