Author Archives: Goddess in the Stacks

Book Review: The Gutter Prayer

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gutter prayerThe Gutter Prayer
by Gareth Hanrahan
Fantasy
518 pages
Published January 2019

Wow. So. Where to start. The Gutter Prayer is definitely epic fantasy, which I haven’t been reading much of lately as I didn’t think I had time. Epic Fantasy is usually big books in long series – and this book could stand completely on its own, though the author says there will be at least one more book.

The Gutter Prayer also does something that I’ve always enjoyed but is somewhat uncommon – the city ITSELF is very much a character here. I attended a panel at last year’s Baltimore Book Festival that talked about Cities as characters which, while not something I’d explicitly realized I liked, was a common thread in a lot of high fantasy/science fiction that I’ve loved. City of Brass and The Courier are good examples. So that was a selling point of The Gutter Prayer.

The book starts with a bang – literally – as the three main characters, Cari, a human thief, Rat, a ghoul, and Spar, a “Rock Man,” are robbing a building when it explodes. (Rock Men are humans who suffer from a magical disease that slowly petrifies them but makes them inhumanly strong.) The action doesn’t let up much, from Rat sneaking through the underbelly of the city, to Spar fighting for his life against his voracious disease while trying to unite the lowlifes of the city, to Cari trying to figure out where her weird visions are coming from. We bounce from monsters kept captive in the deeps, guarded by other monsters, to city politics, to wars between gods on distant shores and closer to home.

The city is central to all of it, hiding secrets and labyrinths and ancient gods and alchemical workshops that spew horrors of their own. The prologue chapter even seems to be from the perspective of the city itself, as if watching our heroes crawl around its streets from above.

For all the action, the writing felt a little slow – as if it wasn’t quite conveying the urgency with which things were happening. The actual events were quite fast-paced, I just think the language could have been more…I’m not sure. Intense, maybe? It didn’t suck me in as much as I would have expected. It didn’t quite come to life on the page. I’m absolutely going to read the next book, when it comes out; writing styles generally improve in the second book, in my experience reading trilogies.

From the cover of The Gutter Prayer:

ENTER A CITY OF SAINTS AND THIEVES . . . 

The city of Guerdon stands eternal. A refuge from the war that rages beyond its borders. But in the ancient tunnels deep beneath its streets, a malevolent power has begun to stir. 

The fate of the city rests in the hands of three thieves. They alone stand against the coming darkness. As conspiracies unfold and secrets are revealed, their friendship will be tested to the limit. If they fail, all will be lost, and the streets of Guerdon will run with blood.

 

 

Friday 56 – The Gutter Prayer

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gutter prayer

The 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 The Gutter Prayer, a fantasy novel by Gareth Hanrahan. In some ways it’s urban fantasy, as it’s set in a city that is very much a character in the novel – but it’s definitely more high fantasy than today’s “urban fantasy” genre.

They descend into darkness. He leads her by a circuitous route, for there are no straight paths down here, just a choice of labyrinths. She stumbles on rough floors and loose bones. She tries keeping one hand pressed to the tunnel wall, so he brings her under one of the city’s sewage works, down paths where the walls ooze black, and after that she keeps her hands to herself, her only tether to the surface Rat’s infrequent commands. Alchemical waste slithers past her legs, half-alive piles of pus that sprout blind eyes and hairy whiskers. They pass through abandoned sections of the city, and through still-inhabited ones. A door leads them into the cellar of a tavern, and he whispers to her to stay quiet as they pass beneath a room full of dock workers breaking their fasts. She can move surprisingly quietly when she has to, but otherwise she’s loud as a sewer boar in the tunnels. He can tell when she bumps or brushes against a new obstacle by each fresh profanity.

Full review up soon!

Book Review: The Winter of the Witch

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winter of the witchThe Winter of the Witch
by Katherine Arden
Fantasy
372 pages
Published January 2019

The Winter of the Witch is the conclusion to the Winternight trilogy that began with The Bear and The Nightingale (enjoyable, but a little overhyped) and continued in The Girl in the Tower (fantastic). And ooooohhh what a conclusion it is! Vasya truly comes into her own in this book, dealing with the Russian fae with a confidence and conviction she didn’t quite have before. The war between the twin brother spirits – the Bear and the Winter King – comes to a head, with Vasya in the middle. While that war is heating up, so is the war between the Tatars and the Russians, with its climax in a version of the real-world Battle of Kulikovo.

The whole of Vasya’s family history is finally revealed, which has surprises of its own. Previously unknown family members appear, and Vasya is no longer as alone in her powers as she thought she was.

It can be very hard to review books in a series – especially concluding books – without spoiling things, so I’ll just say this was an epic conclusion to the trilogy and was just as enchanting as the other books. I cried at more than one point in this book, because Vasya’s heartbreak is so poignant. Gorgeous book. Beautiful use of Russian mythology. This entire trilogy is just brilliant.

From the cover of The Winter of the Witch:

Reviewers called Katherine Arden’s novels The Bear and The Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower “lyrical,” “emotionally stirring,” and “utterly bewitching.” The Winternight Trilogy introduced an unforgettable heroine, Vasilisa Petrovna, a girl determined to forge her own path in a world that would rather lock her away. Her gifts and her courage have drawn the attention of Morozko, the winter-king, but it is too soon to know if this connection will prove a blessing or a curse.

Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers – and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, stronger than ever and determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders. Her destiny uncertain, Vasya will uncover surprising truths about herself and her history as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all.

Library Loot Wednesday

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So this is kind of a sad post – I just picked up the last two books from my hold list at my old library. I still have several books out from my old library, that I’ve been told I can turn in at my new county library and they will make their way back to the proper system, but I don’t think I have any further need to go back to a physical branch. I have to get to know an entirely new set of librarians now!

 

So my last two books from this library are The Priory of the Orange Tree, which is a feminist political fantasy with dragon riders (and a BEAST of a book, at over 800 pages!) and The Suburban Micro-Farm: Modern Solutions for Busy People. I’ve always been interested in homesteading, and I’ve reviewed a few gardening books in the past. (And I have several more on my shelves!) Most of them are about home farming on a tenth of an acre, or a quarter acre – and here I’m suddenly sitting on just under HALF an acre! I’m held back by the chronic fatigue from my chronic illness, but I’m working on addressing that with my doctor and my diet. I’d like to start small with just a couple of pots this year, and maybe grow slowly. I also have a very large black walnut tree towering over much of the property, and there are a lot of plants that won’t grow near those. So I have to do some research.

TTT – Books on my Spring TBR

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl; she has a linky on her page with links to everyone’s Top Tens, go see what everyone else is reading this spring!

This week’s topic is the top ten books on my Spring To-Be-Read list. I have 15 books out currently from the library, and those of course are very high on my list to be read. But given that it’s spring, and I have some research to do, I have a few others that are also high on my list.

 

 

So first I have a giant new release, that I strongly doubt I’ll be able to renew, so I need to get cracking on it: The Priory of the Orange Tree. It’s an over 800-page fantasy with politics, strong women, and dragons. What’s not to love? Other fantasies this spring, also new releases, are The Gutter Prayer and Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which is around 600 pages, so also a pretty big book.

 

 

For The Year of the Asian Reading Challenge, I have Here and Now and Then and The Weight of our Sky. I also have Endless Water, Starless Sky, the sequel to Bright Smoke, Cold Fire, a Romeo and Juliet re-imagining by one of my favorite authors in that genre.

 

 

Lastly, I have The Suburban Micro-Farm, and three more gardening books that I own – The Quarter Acre Farm, The Edible Front Yard, and The Backyard Homestead. Since I moved and now have nearly half an acre to work with, I need to do some research!

Book Review: The Girl King

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the girl kingThe Girl King
by Mimi Yu
Young Adult/Fantasy
488 pages
Published January 2019

This is one of those books that I realized, far too late, wasn’t a standalone novel. Far too few pages left for everything that still needs to be wrapped up, and yep. Only the first book. I’m not sure why I hadn’t realized it wasn’t a standalone. The second book, Empress of Flames, isn’t due out until early 2020, which is far too long to wait! I need to know what happens to these characters!

The Girl King is mainly the story of Lu, eldest daughter of the Emperor of the First Flame. She is expecting to be named heir, and when she isn’t and her cousin (and bully) Set is named instead, she decides not to placidly accept the injustice. She runs away from court, intending to find allies to help her retake the throne. Lu is single-minded and selfish. She doesn’t really pay attention to how her actions affect other people – she doesn’t think twice about leaving her younger, more timid sister to face the court, their mother, and Set on her own. I know that we’re supposed to be cheering for Lu in this book, but in D&D terms, she’s a paladin. She might be right. She’s not very likable. I had far more sympathy for Min, her sister.

Actually, thinking back on it, almost none of these characters did much thinking about how their actions affect other people. The leader of the refugee Gifted did, she had her people to think about. And the triad of rulers of the mythical city were looking out for their people. But Lu really only thinks of herself. Set definitely only thinks about himself. Min is set up to be more sympathetic but is stuck inside her own head. Nok is too consumed with his own private pity party to think much about other people. I love Nok, don’t get me wrong, he was probably my favorite character, but he doesn’t think much about other people other than his mentor.

I feel like it’s reasonable to have one or two self-obsessed characters, but when it’s everyone, I think that might be a writing issue. The story was still great, and I will definitely be reading the second book, but I’m hoping for some character growth and learning about empathy as the story progresses.

From the cover of The Girl King:

IN AN EMPIRE OF FLAMES, THEY MUST RISE FROM THE ASHES.

Sisters Lu and Min have always known their places as princesses of the Empire of the First Flame: assertive Lu will be named her father’s heir and become the dynasty’s first female ruler, while timid Min will lead a quiet life in Lu’s shadow. Until their father names a new heir – their male cousin, Set.

Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu goes in search of allies, leaving Min to face the volatile court alone. Lu soon crosses paths with Nokhai, the lone, unlikely survivor of a clan of nomadic wolf shapeshifters. Nok never learned to shift – or to trust the empire that killed his family – but working with Lu might be the only way to unlock his true power. 

As Lu and Nok form a tenuous alliance, Min’s own power awakens, a forbidden magic that could secure Set’s reign . . . or allow her to claim the throne herself. But there can be only one emperor, and each sister’s greatest enemy could very well be the other.

This sweeping fantasy set against a world of ancient magic and political intrigue weaves an unforgettable story of ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.