Review of The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon
Dec
01
2023
The Hurricane Wars
by Thea Guanzon
480pp (Hardcover)
My Rating: 4/10
Amazon Rating: 4.2/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3.86/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.77/5
 

As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Book Description:

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

The fates of two bitter enemies with opposing magical abilities are swept together in The Hurricane Wars, the spellbinding debut in a fantasy romance trilogy set in a Southeast Asia–inspired world ravaged by storms, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses

The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, she found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty shadow magic. He discovers the greatest threat yet in Talasyn: a girl burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. He tries to kill her, but in a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

This war can only end with them. But an even greater danger is coming, and the strange magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Talasyn and Alaric must decide… are they fated to join hands, or destroy each other?

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters and sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance set in a richly drawn world, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.

The Hurricane Wars, Thea Guanzon’s debut novel, is the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy that follows the third-person perspectives of two characters who have been fighting on opposite sides of the titular conflict. Talasyn, an orphan, was recruited by the rebels when they discovered she had light magic, a rare power since the emperor killed everyone on the continent with those abilities years ago. Since she joined their side, she’s trained in secret, waiting for the right time to use her magic against the conquering army.

But Talasyn is forced to use her magic to save herself in the heat of battle—and does so in the presence of Alaric, the emperor’s son, who possesses shadow magic like his father. Though she survives the altercation that ensues, she knows she’ll need to be wary now that the prince knows about her abilities.

Shortly after her confrontation with Alaric, Talasyn is sent on a mission to some islands that have remained neutral in the war, a mysterious place rumored to have dragons and unique magic. There, she makes a discovery that changes her life and results in her having to work with the person she despises most in the world after the emperor: his son.

There are two main reasons I was excited about reading The Hurricane Wars: the South Asia–inspired world and the enemies-to-lovers arc. (Whether it ends in friendship or romance, I just really enjoy the trope of people who start out despising each other discovering that they have common ground or actually respect/like each other after they are thrown together. Basically, I like relationships of any kind that become more complex over the course of the story, and when this is well done, it really works for me.) However, I found this novel rather lackluster since it didn’t have a lot of depth and the interactions between the two main characters became frustratingly repetitive.

The first third of the book focuses on the wars, which have been going on for some time at that point, and the rest of the book takes place after a four-month time skip that focuses on the aforementioned islands and the relationship between the two main characters. I found it difficult to get through the first 30% or so: a lot happened quickly, and I didn’t know enough about any of these characters to care about their struggles, nor did I find them compelling enough to want to learn more about them.

After it skipped ahead a few months, it became more engaging—even hard to put down for a bit—and I thought I was going to end up enjoying it despite the rough start. The matriarchal island setting was far more interesting to me than the war, and its calculating queen had potential as a character. Unfortunately, it didn’t spend enough time delving into her or any of the others for that to pay off, and all the secondary characters felt like afterthoughts when compared to the relationship between Talasyn and Alaric.

That probably wouldn’t have bothered me if these two had more development or a dynamic that didn’t grow tiresome so quickly. They’re mainly drawn to each other because they each think the other is stunning and the plot demands it, and though there are some scenes later that show how they can fit together as individuals, it wasn’t enough to make me want to keep reading about them and their monotonous relationship problems. They kept running through the same basic scenarios and miscommunications without any hint of character growth, and while there’s still room for more development considering this is only the first installment in a trilogy, I’d have liked for there to be something that showed even a little progress. As sympathetic as Talasyn’s situation was, I just found her annoying by the end since she just kept behaving the same way over and over again. Alaric was slightly more interesting since it’s clear he’s been shaped by fear of his ruthless father, but this installment doesn’t explore that enough to make him truly fascinating, just a little more compelling than the other main character.

Although The Hurricane Wars didn’t work for me, it might work better for those who are looking for Star Wars fanfiction with characters inspired by Rey and Kylo Ren. I did not realize that this novel was based on this when I first heard about it, and even though I am not invested in these characters, I remained excited about reading it even after I learned this: after all, just because I’m not personally a fan of the inspiration doesn’t mean it can’t be remade into a work I’d like.

However, the primary focus of this novel seemed to be banter/bickering and what-could-have-been scenarios involving getting closer then pulling away with characters that didn’t have a lot of original personality, and Alaric sounds exactly like Kylo Ren anytime his appearance is described. Given that I’m more interested in relationships with depth and characters that are more fleshed out, I have no plans to continue this series. (I was also disappointed by the lack of focus on the “strange beasts” mentioned in the book announcement, although I suspect there will be more about them in the next book.)

My Rating: 4/10

Where I got my reading copy: Finished copy from the publisher.

Read an Excerpt from The Hurricane Wars

Review of The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem
Nov
06
2023
The Jasad Heir
by Sara Hashem
528pp (Trade Paperback)
My Rating: 8.5/10
Amazon Rating: 4.3/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3.91/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.02/5
 

As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Jasad Heir, the first book in The Scorched Throne duology, is an Egyptian-inspired epic fantasy novel by debut author Sara Hashem. She began writing it to examine the following question: “what do you owe to a place and a people you’ve barely known but without whom you wouldn’t exist?” This concept is explored through the first-person perspective of Sylvia, the heir to a demolished kingdom hated for its magic, who has been presumed dead along with the rest of the royal family for the last decade. She’s done her best to hide her heritage and prepare to flee if her identity is discovered, and she does not have dreams of wreaking vengeance or rebuilding her homeland and reuniting her people. Sylvia just wants to remain in obscurity, to survive—though she does have moments of niggling guilt and shame over not aiding her people, who are still persecuted and killed for their magic, that she does her best to shove from her mind.

For the past five years, Sylvia has succeeded at being unremarkable, in part because she can’t actually use the magic that would reveal she’s from the Scorched Kingdom of Jasad. Her grandparents fitted her with invisible cuffs that suppressed her abilities when she was a child, and at twenty years old, she still has them since her family was murdered before they were able to remove them. Without being able to even accidentally unleash the power that would doom her, she has been living a quiet life as a chemist’s apprentice in a small village and has even made a couple of friends (in spite of herself and the prickly personality that keeps most from getting close to her).

Unsurprisingly, Sylvia’s peaceful existence does not last. Arin, the heir to the military kingdom that razed her homeland, comes to her village, presumably searching for a Champion to compete in the upcoming tournament celebrating the remaining lands’ magical founders. Unfortunately for Sylvia, she piques his interest since he’s convinced she has magic but cannot prove it, and Sylvia intends to keep him from being able to verify the truth.

Then a horrific event frees her magic for the first time in years, and Arin has the evidence he’s been seeking. But instead of putting her to death, he chooses her as his Champion and reveals he has another use for her that will buy her freedom if she succeeds—one that brings all of her complicated feelings about her identity as the Jasad heir into disarray and begins a dangerous game with Arin, who is determined to discover her true name and family.

The Jasad Heir is one of the most fun books I’ve read this year. It has banter, dark humor, and great character dynamics, and familiar elements like the protagonist having to hide her magic and her royal identity and the enemies-to-maybe-something-more arc are well executed, showcasing just why these are such beloved tropes for so many of us.

The two central characters and their relationship is a large part of why this works so well, but what most made this novel stand out to me was Sylvia herself: her rage, her loyalty to those who somehow made their way into her heart in spite of herself, and her struggle to figure out who she is and wants to be. She’s a character brimming with personality, and I knew I’d like her from the very first line: “Two things stood between me and a good night’s sleep, and I was allowed to kill only one of them.” Her narrative is full of vivid metaphors and comparisons, and though many of them reflect her stabby personality, I found they had enough variety in phrasing that they remained entertaining instead of getting repetitive after a while. (There are some brief third-person interludes from Arin’s perspective, and in the first of these, he describes her as having “the temperament of a deranged goose,” which seemed very fitting since I could instantly see it.)

I loved that this story delved into how Sylvia forged her hard exterior and dealt with her facing all the internal conflicts she’s ignored for the last few years, showing how she never had a chance to develop a sense of self as she had to set up a front for self-preservation. I loved that she was selfish but also intensely loyal to the few people she does care about, that she was someone aware of her own flaws and shortcomings as she grappled with the shame, guilt, and trauma that made her thoroughly cut herself off from who she used to be. Although I wouldn’t call Sylvia one of the best written characters I’ve ever read, I also think she’s more complex and alive than most, and Sara Hashem did an excellent job at portraying just how utterly lost she is deep inside and how she came to be that way.

This provides contrast that is a large part of what makes her relationship with Arin so compelling: he has the sense of self she lacks, and he’s calculating, manipulative, confident, and in control of his emotions, which Sylvia finds admirable, infuriating, and terrifying. It takes time for their relationship to evolve into something more than enemies (which I much prefer to the protagonist immediately thinking about how incredibly attractive their enemy is and how they shouldn’t be having such thoughts about them; although Sylvia does note that Arin is handsome earlier in the story, it’s also stated in the same way she’d observe that the sky is blue or the grass is green). Sylvia tries to kill Arin after she’s been discovered and feels she has nothing left to lose, and in turn, Arin is furious that it will best suit his purposes to keep her alive.

But as the two spend time together preparing for the trials, they both need to keep Sylvia’s magic a secret, putting them on the same team opposite the other royals. Though Sylvia is still hiding her true name and has a messy relationship with herself, she also gets to be more fully herself than she has in a long time when she no longer has to pretend to be someone completely different, a meek and mild person, all the time. And that is probably a large part of what draws Arin to her. As an heir, Arin’s grown up surrounded by danger and people hiding their ire behind smiles, and once Sylvia’s heritage is exposed, she wears her rage openly. What he calls her “attempts at humor” start to make him smile, and he becomes less and less stoic when he’s around her. I loved their dynamic and every single scene involving the two of them, and seeing Arin’s carefully curated facade fall apart just for Sylvia was delightful.

Although these two were the highlights for me, Sylvia’s friendships were also wonderful with fun dialogue and a great dynamic. Additionally, I enjoyed learning more about the past alongside our narrator as she discovered more about the politics and rivalries she hadn’t been aware of as a child. So far, the different lands and their people mostly have one or two defining traits that set them apart instead of being deeply fleshed out, but I still liked visiting them and meeting their rulers and each of their chosen Champions. (Of particular interest was Sultana Vaida, who appears friendly but is crafty and has a horrifying way of dealing with traitors.)

Even if it didn’t have the complexity that would have made it a 5-star experience for me, The Jasad Heir is a really well done, fun book—a fantastic debut with personality (a stabby one), a great enemies-to-love-interests arc, and a protagonist with a more complicated internal struggle than many. Before writing this review, I went back to reread parts of it, and I was so thoroughly hooked that I ended up reading the entire novel all over again. I can hardly wait to see what happens in the second half of the duology, especially after the exciting ending that changed the trajectory and made me want to read the next book NOW.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Where I got my reading copy: ARC from the publisher.

Read an Excerpt from The Jasad Heir

The Leaning Pile of Books
Oct
29
2023

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.

I am working on a review of one of my favorite debut novels of this year that I’m hoping to finish soon, but in the meantime, a couple of books I ordered showed up in the mail last week. These are both recent gothic fantasy books that appeared on my list of anticipated 2023 releases.

Cover of Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

This contemporary gothic fantasy came out earlier this month (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). The Macmillan website has both text and audio excerpts from Starling House.

I absolutely adored The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow’s debut novel, for its beautiful writing and themes. Here’s a bit of what I wrote about it in my Favorite Books of 2019 post:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a treasure. It’s not only a celebration of books and stories but also is itself a beautifully told story with two exquisitely written, unique bibliophilic voices between January’s first person narration and that of The Ten Thousand Doors (which is included in its entirety, complete with delightful footnotes!). It’s an ode to words, imagination, and stories, particularly the power they have to burrow into hearts and souls and show one something true, meaningful, and lasting—and it is in itself just that type of book. It’s also an ode to dreamers and outsiders, to being who you are and daring to write your own story despite society’s attempts to shape your path into one that doesn’t fit you, among being a book about so many other things—and it is magnificent.

It’s an indelible book that seems destined to be a classic, and The Ten Thousand Doors of January is my choice for Book of the Year in 2019.

Though it sounded like exactly my type of book, I didn’t feel the same about The Once and Future Witches, and I bounced off A Spindle Splintered (which also sounded like exactly my type of book) around the 25% point. But I love beautifully written gothic fantasy and had high hopes for Starling House knowing what Alix E. Harrow is capable of doing, and the sample made me even more hopeful that this might be closer to my experience reading The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

 

Starling House is a gorgeous, modern gothic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January.

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen….

Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.

All she left behind were dark rumors—and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

I should be scared, but in the dream I don’t hesitate.

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House—and make some extra cash for her brother’s escape fund—she can’t resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

In my dream, I’m home.

And now she’ll have to fight.

Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.

Cover of A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

This YA gothic historical fantasy was released in September (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). The Harper Collins website has a sample from A Study in Drowning.

There are three main reasons I want to read this one: it’s dark academia, it has scholarly rivals, and it’s influenced by Welsh mythology.

 

An instant Indie and #1 New York Times bestseller!

“Achingly atmospheric and beautifully sharp, A Study in Drowning will draw you in from the first page.” —Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls

Bestselling author Ava Reid makes her YA debut in this dark academic fantasy perfect for fans of Melissa Albert and Elana K. Arnold.

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

Part historical fantasy, part rivals-to-lovers romance, part Gothic mystery, and all haunting, dreamlike atmosphere, Ava Reid’s powerful YA debut will lure in readers who loved The Atlas Six, House of Salt and Sorrows, or Girl, Serpent, Thorn.

The Leaning Pile of Books
Oct
15
2023

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.

One soon-to-be-released dark fantasy novel came in the mail last week: a sequel that I’m very excited about!

Cover of Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig

Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King #2) by Rachel Gillig

The second book in The Shepherd King duology will be released on October 17 (trade paperback, ebook, audiobook).

One Dark Window, the first book in this series, was one of my favorite books of 2022. It was one of the most fun, difficult-to-put-down books I read last year, plus I enjoyed the lore, the ending, and the monster/maiden dynamic. Rachel Gillig discussed the latter in her Women in SF&F Month 2022 essay, which begins as follows:

The monster/maiden dynamic is a familiar one. It wears many faces. It lives in all genres, particularly fantasy, dispersing itself throughout the subgenres. It’s been a favorite trope of mine since I watched Beauty and the Beast at the ripe age of five. But this blog won’t be about romance or tension between the monster and maiden. Rather, I’d like to reflect on, in writing my own monster/maiden book, the built-in constraints of the maiden, and how the foil of the monster can help undo them.

Part of why the monster/maiden dynamic is so successful is because it comes with integrated conflict—light against dark. The maiden and the monster are natural foils. Her virtue and beauty stand in contrast to the monster’s atrocities—physical or moral. Over the span of the story, it is often the maiden’s virtue that wins the day. Her goodness erodes the monster’s darkness.

Don’t get me wrong—I love these stories to my core. But in the world of fantasy, where a reader can escape so thoroughly into a book, I wanted to experience a different kind of maiden. One whose contribution is not merely to redeem others. A maiden who does not deliver the monster, but becomes one herself.

The rest of “Maidens, Monsters, and the Lines That Blur Between Them” can be read here.

 

In the dark, spellbinding sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth must confront the weight of her actions as she and Ravyn embark on a perilous quest to save the kingdom—perfect for readers of Hannah Whitten’s For the Wolf and Alexis Henderson’s The Year of the Witching.

Gripped by a tyrant king and in the thrall of dark magic, the kingdom is in peril. Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last—and most important—one remains to be found: the Twin Alders. If they’re going to find the card before Solstice and set free the kingdom, they will need to journey through the dangerous mist-cloaked forest. The only one who can lead them through is the monster that shares Elspeth’s head: the Nightmare.

And he’s not eager to share any longer.

The Leaning Pile of Books
Oct
01
2023

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 been a little while since one of these posts since I bought some books right before or during vacation, and then I never went back and caught up. Here’s what has been posted since the last feature in case you missed it:

  • Review of Cassiel’s Servant by Jacqueline Carey — This companion to Kushiel’s Dart following the same events from Joscelin’s perspective is my favorite fantasy book I’ve read this year. Once again, Jacqueline Carey has written a beautiful novel that shows why she’s a master storyteller.
  • Review of Witch King by Martha Wells — I loved the idea of this standalone epic fantasy novel, a story about found family bound by a rebellion that follows a past storyline about how they became legends and a present-day storyline. But after an intriguing beginning, I found it didn’t hold my interest.

Due to time restraints, I’m not going to cover all the books I got right before or on my vacation. I decided to narrow it down to 2023 debut novels since I bought a couple of new releases and just got one coming soon in the mail from the publisher a couple days ago. All three of these were featured in my Anticipated 2023 Speculative Fiction Book Releases post.

Cover of The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars #1) by Thea Guanzon

The Hurricane Wars, the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy by debut author Thea Guanzon, will be released on October 3 (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). A large print edition is coming out on November 7.

The Harper Collins website has an excerpt and information on an upcoming author event, a virtual one hosted by The Novel Neighbor bookstore on October 3.

I’ve been excited for this since reading the book announcement for The Hurricane Wars, which says it’s “set in a Southeast Asian-inspired world and features a wartime enemies-to-lovers romance with plenty of magic, airships, strange beasts, and a marriage of political convenience between sworn foes.”

 

The fates of two bitter enemies with opposing magical abilities are swept together in The Hurricane Wars, the spellbinding debut in a fantasy romance trilogy set in a Southeast Asia–inspired world ravaged by storms, perfect for fans of Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses

The heart is a battlefield.

All Talasyn has ever known is the Hurricane Wars. Growing up an orphan in a nation under siege by the ruthless Night Emperor, she found her family among the soldiers who fight for freedom. But she is hiding a deadly secret: light magic courses through her veins, a blazing power believed to have been wiped out years ago that can cut through the Night Empire’s shadows.

Prince Alaric, the emperor’s only son and heir, has been tasked with obliterating any threats to the Night Empire’s rule with the strength of his armies and mighty shadow magic. He discovers the greatest threat yet in Talasyn: a girl burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. He tries to kill her, but in a clash of light and dark, their powers merge and create a force the likes of which has never been seen.

This war can only end with them. But an even greater danger is coming, and the strange magic they can create together could be the only way to overcome it. Talasyn and Alaric must decide… are they fated to join hands, or destroy each other?

An exquisite fantasy brimming with unforgettable characters and sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance set in a richly drawn world, The Hurricane Wars marks the breathtaking debut of an extraordinary new writer.

Cover of Forged By Blood by Ehigbor Okosun

Forged by Blood (The Tainted Blood Duology #1) by Ehigbor Okosun

Ehigbor Okosun’s fantasy debut novel was released in August (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). The Harper Collins website has an excerpt from Forged by Blood.

The author discussed stories and writing her book in “Myth and Magic, Seen and Unseen”:

Myth is shape-shifting eternity wrapped in godhood and shadow.

The first time I share a story with a friend, I am six or seven. She listens enraptured, pausing me now and then to ask questions or interject: Why doesn’t the tortoise fear getting hurt? Mami wata can only catch you if you jump into water alone. Should we pretend to sleep, and when our parents are abed, wander into the twilight in search of vengeful deer spirits?

We never did bring our offering of sticky buns and cold bean porridge to the moss-covered grove near the flat we’d all piled into for the weekend. We woke instead to promises of milk-smothered custard and packed our planned adventures away for another time. I did, however, spend the next two decades thinking of the last question she left me: “I love these stories. But they’re like us, aren’t they? They aren’t real.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, heart in my throat, belly so full of fear that she knows something I don’t.

The rest of Ehigbor Okosun’s Women in SF&F Month essay can be read here.

 

Ehigbor Okosun’s first book in an action-packed, poignant duology inspired by Nigerian mythology—full of magic and emotion and set in a highly atmospheric, complex world in which a young woman fights to survive a tyrannical society, having everything stripped away from her, and seeks vengeance for her mother’s murder and the spilled blood of her people.

In the midst of a tyrannical regime and political invasion, Dèmi just wants to survive: to avoid the suspicion of the nonmagical Ajes who occupy her ancestral homeland of Ife; to escape the King’s brutal genocide of her people—the darker skinned, magic wielding Oluso; and to live peacefully with her secretive mother while learning to control the terrifying blood magic that is her birthright.

But when Dèmi’s misplaced trust costs her mother’s life, survival gives way to vengeance. She bides her time until the devious Lord Ekwensi grants her the perfect opportunity—kidnap the Aje prince, Jonas, and bargain with his life to save the remaining Oluso. With the help of her reckless childhood friend Colin, Dèmi succeeds, but discovers that she and Jonas share more than deadly secrets; every moment tangles them further into a forbidden, unmistakable attraction, much to Colin’s—and Dèmi’s—distress.

The kidnapping is now a joint mission: to return to the King, help get Lord Ekwensi on the council, and bolster the voice of the Oluso in a system designed to silence them. But the way is dangerous, Dèmi’s magic is growing yet uncertain, and it’s not clear if she can trust the two men at her side.

A tale of rebellion and redemption, race and class, love and trust and betrayal, Forged by Blood is epic fantasy at its finest, from an enthusiastic, emerging voice.

Cover of The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Kemi Ashing-Giwa’s space opera debut novel was released in July (hardcover, ebook, audiobook). Tor.com has an excerpt from The Splinter in the Sky.

The author discussed how family plays a role in her novel as part of this year’s Women in SF&F Month:

The Splinter in the Sky is a space opera spy thriller about a tea specialist-turned-assassin who embarks on a mission to save her sibling and avenge her fallen lover. It’s a story that examines the far-reaching effects of imperialism and colonialism, as well as the simultaneous commodification, absorption, and erasure of culture. It explores how systems of oppression—and the beliefs sustaining them—rise and fall. But most importantly, The Splinter in the Sky is a story about family.

I am a child of immigrants. My mother is from Trinidad, my father is from Nigeria. My mother’s mother moved from Grenada, and her father sailed to the Carribbean from China. (The “Ashing” in my surname comes from Hua Ching, which British officials found too difficult to pronounce.) My extended family is collectively fluent in five or six languages. (Not I, though. My first language was actually Spanish, but I lost all fluency because everyone spoke English to me after I was about five. Alas and alack!)

The rest of Kemi Ashing-Giwa’s essay can be read here.

 

An instant USA Today Bestseller

The dust may have settled in the war of conquest between the Holy Vaalbaran Empire and the Ominirish Republic, but the Empire’s surrender means little. Especially to a lowly scribe like Enitan, given her country’s continuing status as a Vaalbaran province. All she wants is to quit her day job and expand her fledgling tea business. But when imperial agents assassinate her lover and abduct her sibling, Enitan abandons her idyllic plans and embarks on a rescue mission, weaving her tea tray up through the heart of the Vaalbaran capital.

Her enemies are countless, clever, and powerful beyond measure. There’s a new God-Emperor on the throne, and her reign promises to change the star system forever. And as Enitan sinks deeper into the Empire’s bloody conspiracies, she discovers just how far she’s willing to go to exact vengeance, save her sibling, and perhaps even restore her homeland’s freedom.

Review of Witch King by Martha Wells
Sep
28
2023
Witch King
by Martha Wells
432pp (Hardcover)
My Rating: 5/10
Amazon Rating: 4.4/5
LibraryThing Rating: 3.82/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.76/5
 

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Having thoroughly enjoyed her Books of the Raksura, I was excited for a new fantasy novel by Martha Wells, her first in some time after writing several books in her acclaimed science fiction series, The Murderbot Diaries. (Although I thought All Systems Red was decent, I didn’t find it captivating enough to continue the series and much preferred her other books I’d read.) Unfortunately, Witch King fell far short of my expectations despite a strong start and some interesting ideas.

This standalone epic fantasy novel begins with the demon Kai awakening outside his body, not knowing what happened or how he got there—only that his old body appears to have been dead for about a year and one of his closest friends is imprisoned nearby. Fortunately, he’s able to inhabit the body of a recently deceased man and release his friend from her captivity, but she doesn’t remember any more about how they got into their situation than he does. The two then set out to uncover the truth about what happened to them and find the friend’s wife, and their search alternates with a past storyline showing how they came to be legends and companions.

When reduced to its bare bones, Witch King sounds great: a story of found family bound by their involvement in a rebellion, alternating between how they came together to defeat a Great Evil in the first place and a present-day storyline involving two of those characters trying to solve a very personal mystery. I was immediately intrigued by Kai’s present predicament and quest to discover who wanted him out of the picture and why, and I also wanted to learn more about the demons of this world, especially after reading about their pact with humans and Kai’s first experiences as a mortal. He came to the realm when he occupied the body of a recently deceased woman whose family wanted to ensure their line continued, leaving his true physical form in the underearth and gaining the power to drain life from mortals when he did so.

However, it was struggle to read after the first two chapters, which introduced the aforementioned parts that piqued my interest. Considering the massive size of my TBR pile these days, I probably would have given up on it if it had been a book by a new-to-me author. But since it was Martha Wells, I persevered and hoped that everything would suddenly come together and make me glad I stuck with it. Sadly, that never happened, though I continued to appreciate many of the ideas that went into this novel. I love when books explore how the story doesn’t end just because the heroes succeeded in their quest to change the world and how others may strive to undo what they fought so hard to create. There will still always be problems and conflicts between people (or demons or witches or whatever), and since this follows long-lived characters, it shows that later generations may not see things from the same perspective.

Given these concepts, Witch King was brimming with potential, but it was just so bland. The writing does its job, but it’s rather plain and overly descriptive when it comes to aspects like appearance and dress. I wouldn’t have had so much of a problem with this if I were more invested in the characters and their stories, but other than the occasional bit of snappy dialogue, they too were devoid of charisma: for a bunch of legends with historical significance and awesome powers, they were dull to follow. It didn’t feel like the story really delved into them as individuals, and given the focus on found family, it didn’t seem to dig into the intricacies of these relationships and what made them fit together. Of course, it’s not unrealistic that a group of people (or demons or witches or whatever) would find each other by being on the same side of a rebellion, a common cause that drew them together in the course of seeking justice, change, and their own survival. However, if I’m reading about a group like this, I want to see what really makes them mesh. The members of this found family clearly cared about each other, but I felt like they were mainly close because they were in the same place at the same time with the same goals—not because they had personalities that drew them together and made them lifelong friends.

Although I didn’t find it entertaining for the most part, I have some rather mixed feelings on Witch King. There’s nothing especially “bad” about its writing, plot, or characters, and it has an original world and some interesting concepts thrown into the mix—and that makes it better as a whole than a lot of books. Nevertheless, it lacks the sort of prose and personality that makes reading fiction so enjoyable, that special spark that makes a book compelling and difficult to put down. It was all too easy to put this one down after the very beginning, and as much as I loved the idea of it, it could be a tedious reading experience.

My Rating: 5/10

Where I got my reading copy: ARC from the publisher.

Read an Excerpt from Witch King

Read “Deconstructing Epics” by Martha Wells (her Women in SF&F Month 2023 guest post on Witch King and more)