The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature in which I highlight books I got over the last week that sound interesting—old or new, bought or received in the mail for review consideration. Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included, along with series information and the publisher’s book description.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org, and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
It’s actually been a little while since I’ve done one of these posts, largely because I was working on the two big annual posts and then getting Women in SF&F Month together. (If you missed any of the guest posts or book recommendations from last month, you can find links to all of them here.)
One book showed up in the mail last week, and I’m also covering one that arrived the week before last. Both of these books appeared on my list of anticipated 2024 speculative fiction book releases.
Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel
Vaishnavi Patel’s second novel, a reimagining of the Mahabharata and Ganga’s story, will be released on May 21 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook).
I’ve been looking forward to reading more by Vaishnavi Patel since reading her debut novel, Kaikeyi, which reimagines the story of the titular queen from the Ramayana. As I wrote in my review:
Kaikeyi is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and I appreciated its focus on a compassionate but flawed heroine determined to carve a place for herself in a society that didn’t want her to be her true self as a woman with ambition: a queen and a warrior, a mother and a political adviser, an advocate for other women, and ultimately, someone who had a profound impact. It’s a fantastic debut—from the protagonist’s story and voice to the depth of her familial relationships to the more epic scenes involving gods and other supernatural beings—and I’m eagerly anticipating Vaishnavi Patel’s next novel.
This was a book that I appreciated and enjoyed but found I admired even more after finishing it and reflecting on it.
The author also shared about a trope she wanted to challenge through Kaikeyi’s story in her Women in SF&F Month guest post from 2022, “Divorcing the Evil Stepmother.”
A powerful reimagining of the story of Ganga, goddess of the river, and her doomed mortal son, from Vaishnavi Patel, author of the instant New York Times bestseller Kaikeyi.
A mother and a son. A goddess and a prince. A curse and an oath. A river whose course will change the fate of the world.
Ganga, joyful goddess of the river, serves as caretaker to the mischievous godlings who roam her banks. But when their antics incur the wrath of a powerful sage, Ganga is cursed to become mortal, bound to her human form until she fulfills the obligations of the curse.
Though she knows nothing of mortal life, Ganga weds King Shantanu and becomes a queen, determined to regain her freedom no matter the cost. But in a cruel turn of fate, just as she is freed of her binding, she is forced to leave her infant son behind.
Her son, prince Devavrata, unwittingly carries the legacy of Ganga’s curse. And when he makes an oath that he will never claim his father’s throne, he sets in motion a chain of events that will end in a terrible and tragic war.
As the years unfold, Ganga and Devavrata are drawn together again and again, each confluence another step on a path that has been written in the stars, in this deeply moving and masterful tale of duty, destiny, and the unwavering bond between mother and son.
Saints of Storm and Sorrow (The Stormbringer Saga #1) by Gabriella Buba
This Filipino-inspired debut novel will be out on June 25 (paperback, ebook). This sounds fantastic, and it’s described as being my sort of book: “perfect for fans of lush fantasy full of morally ambiguous characters.”
Gabriella Buba also discussed it in her Women in SF&F Month guest post last month:
But Fantasy can ask all the what ifs of history: what if all the victors destroyed and time has lost still remained? It can fill in the gaps between the lines of racist reports written by Spanish clergy—Spanish that I read with more fluency than my stumbling Tagalog.
And so reading and then writing Fantasy became the vehicle by which I could safely unspool and grapple with the history of colonialism and imperialism that created the war, want, and waste that sent my Filipino family across an ocean.
Taking this fragmented pre-colonial history together with re-imaginings of myths and folklore, Saints of Storm and Sorrow is a Filipino-inspired Fantasy in which Lunurin, a bisexual nun hiding a goddess-given gift, is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people’s struggle against colonization.
It is Lunurin’s efforts to protect those she loves from the crushing realities and abuses of colonialism and its twin tools of greed and religion that ultimately awakens her Goddess and forces Lunurin to act, to break the status quo, and finally face the past she’s become so good at running from.
In this fiercely imaginative Filipino-inspired fantasy debut, a bisexual nun hiding a goddess-given gift is unwillingly transformed into a lightning rod for her people’s struggle against colonization.
Perfect for fans of lush fantasy full of morally ambiguous characters, including The Poppy War and The Jasmine Throne.
María Lunurin has been living a double life for as long as she can remember. To the world, she is Sister María, dutiful nun and devoted servant of Aynila’s Codicían colonizers. But behind closed doors, she is a stormcaller, chosen daughter of the Aynilan goddess Anitun Tabu. In hiding not only from the Codicíans and their witch hunts, but also from the vengeful eye of her slighted goddess, Lunurin does what she can to protect her fellow Aynilans and the small family she has created in the convent: her lover Catalina, and Cat’s younger sister Inez.
Lunurin is determined to keep her head down—until one day she makes a devastating discovery, which threatens to tear her family apart. In desperation, she turns for help to Alon Dakila, heir to Aynila’s most powerful family, who has been ardently in love with her for years. But this choice sets in motion a chain of events beyond her control, awakening Anitun Tabu’s rage and putting everyone Lunurin loves in terrible danger. Torn between the call of Alon’s magic and Catalina’s jealousy, her duty to her family and to her people, Lunurin can no longer keep Anitun Tabu’s fury at bay.
The goddess of storms demands vengeance. And she will sweep aside anyone who stands in her way.
