Author Archives: Goddess in the Stacks

Book Review: River of Teeth

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river of teethRiver of Teeth
by Sarah Gailey
Alternate History?
173 pages
Published 2017

I somehow missed that this was a novella, every time I looked at it online. It wasn’t until I checked it out from the library and was shocked at how small it was that I made that discovery. It was a welcome one, since I checked out seven other books that day, and finding something short was a relief!

And I AM SO GLAD I finally read this, because it’s AMAZING. It opens on Winslow seducing a federal agent, and quickly moves to him gathering up a crew to drive feral hippos out of a marsh in Louisiana. I was expected a fun hippo-cowboy romp, and I got that – what I wasn’t expected was strong, deadly women, a bisexual male hero, a nonbinary love interest, and hippo steeds. I don’t know why hippo steeds didn’t occur to me – it’s not like they could wrangle hippos from atop horses! There is so much goodness packed into this little volume.

Taste of Marrow, the sequel, is slightly longer, at 192 pages. Still not full book length. I’ve put a hold on it, because I need to know more about these characters!

River of Teeth: short and sweet, action-packed with amazing characters and a fascinating, bizarre, but historical premise.

From the cover of River of Teeth:

In the early twentieth century, the United States government concocted a plan to import hippopotamuses into the marshlands of Louisiana to be bred and slaughtered as an alternative meat source. This is true. Other true things about hippos: they are savage, they are fast, and their jaws can snap a man in two.

This was a terrible plan.

Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

Library Loot Wednesday

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Oh boy. I picked up EIGHT books this week. I was not expecting that many to show up at once!

I have several New Releases (well, new for the library – that means they likely came out in November) and three older books.

 

 

In New Releases, I picked up N. K. Jemisin’s How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? (that coverrrrr), and Julie Dao’s sequel to Forest of a Thousand Lanterns, Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix. I also received Empress of All Seasons, Autism in Heels, and Love Á La Mode (because I’m a sucker for romance mixed with food).

 

 

In older books, I checked out When Dimple Met Rishi (finally!), The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily, and River of Teeth, which I’ve been meaning to get around to. Hippos as an invasive species in the Mississippi? That sounds amazing. It’s also blessedly short, which I was pleased to see when picking up EIGHT BOOKS. River of Teeth will also fill my library’s January Reading Challenge prompt of “Book you’ve been meaning to read.”

It’s a lot to read, but I’m pretty excited about every one of these books!

 

Top Ten Tuesday – New-To-Me Authors I Read in 2018

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Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Go see what everyone else is reading!

how long til black future monthI read A LOT of new authors in 2018. I was trying to read more diversely, AND I read a lot of debut novels. I read FAR more new authors than old authors. I get the feeling this topic is supposed to be authors who already have a body of work that I’m just getting introduced to, though, so I’ll try to go with that.

I didn’t actually write up a review, but I did read N. K. Jemisin‘s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms this year – and it was amazing epic fantasy. I just checked out her newest, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? from the library, and I’m eager to get to it. I’d read more of her stuff, but I’ve been avoiding epic fantasy lately. I just don’t feel like I have the time to devote to it!

 

Rosamund Hodge became a favorite author of mine this year. I started the year with Bright Smoke, Cold Fire, and went on to read Crimson Bound and Cruel Beauty. I recently checked out Endless Water, Starless Sky, the sequel to Bright Smoke. I’ve also gone through her list of short stories on her webpage. She’s amazing.

CirceI discovered Madeline Miller through the Book of the Month club – Circe was the first book of hers I read, and though I bought Song of Achilles on my Kindle, I have yet to read it. I should really do that.

Again in books I didn’t actually review, I read my first Ursula Vernon this year, after meeting her at Anthrocon over the summer. I bought three of her books there, and they’re all excellent!

 

Jenny Han got so much publicity with Netflix’s adaptation of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before that I finally read the book (and its sequel) and those are also excellent. Need to get my hands on the third!

 

I read Mary Roach‘s Bonk and loved it, and she apparently has a few other nonfiction microhistories. Her voice is fantastic, so I might need to pick those up at some point.

I don’t know that I’ll read any more of his stuff, but John Scalzi‘s Redshirts was pretty hilarious.

Oh, this might be a shock, but the first (and only, currently) Sarah J. Maas book I’ve read was her contribution to the DC Icons series, Catwoman: Soulstealer. It was really good, but I’m still not sure I want to spend the time to read her series.

 

Anna-Marie McLemore was also new to me this year; I checked out The Weight of Feathers but didn’t get around to reading it for a while. I finally read it in December, and the lyrical beauty of her writing blew me away. Blanca y Roja is now sitting on my shelf to be read!

 

My last new-to-me author is Katherine Locke, the author of The Girl with the Red Balloon and The Spy with the Red Balloon. I really enjoy her Twitter account as well as her books!

 

 

Book Review: The Brilliant Death

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the brilliant deathThe Brilliant Death
by Amy Rose Capetta
Young Adult/Fantasy
330 pages
Published October 2018

It’s not often that I like a relationship more than I like the separate parts of it, but that’s the case with The Brilliant Death. I love Teo and Cielo together. As a couple they are amazing. I like them individually, but together they are something unique and lovely. By the end of the book, they can both switch genders at will, and they love each other for who they are, not what bodies they happen to be wearing.

This book plays with the gender binary, giving us two characters who dance from boy to girl and back again when it’s convenient for them. Teo uses this ability to masquerade as her brother, going to the capital city when summoned by the ruler of her country after the assassination of her father.

If Teo’s name and the use of the word “strega” hadn’t given it away, the book is very Italian-inspired. The family ties, the landscape, the names, the atmosphere is unmistakably Italian. While that’s still a Western European culture, it’s not one we actually see in fantasy that often, which makes this book more enthralling.

While Teo juggles loyalties to family, country, and friends, Cielo is on a mission to find out what happened to their mother. Falling in love isn’t in the plan for either of them, but when is it, really?

I loved the magic, the characters, and the setting of this one, and I really hope there’s going to be a sequel. The plot was definitely left open enough to allow for one, though I could be happy with this as a standalone, too.

From the cover of The Brilliant Death:

Teodora Di Sangro is used to hiding her magical ability to transform enemies into music boxes and mirrors. Nobody knows she’s a strega – and she aims to keep it that way.

Then she meets Cielo – and everything changes.

A strega who can effortlessly swap back and forth between female and male, human and animal, Cielo shows Teodora what her life could be like if she masters her powers – and how much more she’s capable of. And not a moment too soon: the ruler of Vinalia has poisoned the patriarchs of the country’s five controlling families, including Teodora’s father, and demands that each family send a son to the palace. If she wants to save her family, Teodora must travel to the capital – not disguised as a boy, but transformed into one.

But the road to the capital, and to bridling her evolving powers, is full of enemies and complications, including the one she least expects: falling in love.

Sunday Snow!

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It’s our last winter in this rental. I’m going to curl up and play some video games while the snow falls.

Book Review: Black Wings Beating

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black wings beatingBlack Wings Beating
by Alex London
Young Adult/Fantasy
426 pages
Published September 2018

This highly-anticipated young adult fantasy was – alright. I’m a little disappointed, actually. I love birds. I grew up with a number of parrots, and crows are still one of my favorite animals. So a book where falconry is a central part of the culture, and they have to go hunt down a mythical bird? Count me in! Unfortunately this book suffers from the “reluctant hero” trope, which is far too common in YA and gets tiring.

The two main characters in this book are twins. We have Brysen, who was never good enough for their alcoholic father, and was beaten regularly. He’s also stubborn, irresponsible, and reckless. His sister has an ancient power to control falcons, but she refuses to learn how to control it because she doesn’t want to overshadow her good-for-nothing brother. (She also might be asexual, but it’s not explicitly stated in the book. It’s heavily implied, though.)

The two dysfunctional siblings set out to capture the near-mythical bird that killed their father, in order to save the life of Brysen’s lover, falconry trainer, and manipulator, Dymian. They’re joined by Nyall, a boy in love with Kylee who doesn’t care that she doesn’t love him back. (In the truly-good-guy way, not in the creepy way. I like Nyall. He’s good people.)

They of course run into dangers in the mountains that the bird lives in, and the book is about that journey. Interspersed with their story is the occasional scene of the invaders sweeping across the land elsewhere. I wish we had a better sense of time – both how long before the invaders near the Six Villages where Brysen and Kylee are, and how long their journey in the mountains takes. That could have been much better communicated.

Kylee frustrates me – she could be so badass, and if she’d use her powers, it could get her what she wants. She’s trying to earn enough money catching and selling birds of prey to get out of the business entirely. (She has to pay off their father’s debts first.) So why not use her powers to call down a few of the most valuable birds and BE DONE WITH IT? How does this not occur to her? As far as I can tell, the only real reason she doesn’t want to be a falconer is she knows she’d be excellent at it and she doesn’t want to overshadow her brother, whose dream it’s been to be a great falconer. News flash. Your brother is worthless, girl. If he wants to be great maybe he should buckle down and focus instead of blaming those around him for his misfortunes.

So I’m not sure what my overall opinion of this book is. The world-building is shaping up to be interesting, but needs more fleshing out. The writing itself is pretty good, it flows nicely but needs a better sense of time. The characters’ motivations are clear but occasionally frustrating. I am a little invested in seeing what happens in the next book, but I’m not sure I’m invested enough to spend the time to read it. I’ll make that decision when it comes out, I suppose.

From the cover of Black Wings Beating:

THEY’LL RISE TOGETHER OR FALL ALONE

The people of Uztar have long looked to the sky with hope and wonder. Nothing in their world is more revered than birds of prey, and no one is more honored than the falconers who call them to their fists. 

Brysen strives to be a great falconer, while his twin sister, Kylee, possesses ancient gifts for it but wants to be free of falconry altogether. She’s nearly made it out, too, but a war is rolling toward the Six Villages, with a rebel army leaving nothing in its wake but blood and empty sky. No bird or falconer will be safe from this invasion.

Together the twins must embark on a journey into the treacherous mountains to trap the near-mythic ghost eagle, a solitary killer and the most feared of the Uztari birds of prey. They each go for their own reasons: Brysen for the boy he loves and the glory he’s long craved, and Kylee to atone for her past and protect her brother’s future. But they both are hunted by those who seek one thing: power.

With this book, Alex London launches a soaring saga about the memories that haunt us, the histories that hunt us, and the bonds of blood between us.