Review: Infinity Kings

Infinity Kings by Adam Silvera
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I used to be such a big fan of Adam Silvera like 5-10 years ago, but more recently I'm afraid he's been losing his luster for me. He used to be so good at writing stories about glorious gay geekboys who made me laugh and cry in equal measure, but it says a lot that this book included one particularly major character death and I didn't cry reading it. I should have, but I didn't, and I blame that on this book's massive overlength, too many characters, too many POV's, and too many times cheating death for various other characters, including a few who should've died a thousand pages ago.

Review: The Diablo's Curse

The Diablo's Curse by Gabe Cole Novoa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though I'll always be a fan of Beyond the Red and sequels first and foremost, I'm very happy to see that Gabe Cole Novoa has been carving himself a nice new niche in the YA publishing world, now with his second book in a loosely connected series of pirate fantasy novels. Trading in the sunny Caribbean for the more forbidding waters off Massachusetts (albeit with a misplaced tropical island or two, because diablo magic) and focusing on the mission-driven demonio Dami as they try to cancel all the deals they've made, Novoa's got the recipe down for some of the finest adventuring in the business. Naturally, our protagonists come from all across the LGBTQ+ spectrum - Dami, of course, being genderfluid and nonbinary; Silas, who irritates the hell out of them for all the right reasons; and Marisol, a trans girl fleeing from the family who never let her be herself. Though some aspects of the prose do read a little distractingly modern for this 19th century setting, it helps establish the characters' witty styles better, so it works better than most other anachronistic examples. I hope to see more seafaring fun from Novoa coming soon, though I can't imagine how he could make a better (anti) hero than Dami, who's one of my favorite characters of his by far now. (Though Eros will still be my best bi boi, of course, for obvious reasons.)

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Review: A Tempest of Tea

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a few years since Hafsah Faizal wrote a new fantasy novel, but it's definitely been worth the wait for this one. Coming pretty close to the same trajectory as Leigh Bardugo took with the Grishaverse, Faizal follows up on her initial series, the Sands of Arawiya, with the start of a new series focusing on a highly diverse ensemble cast carrying out a heist. A lot like Six of Crows this story becomes, set in not-London instead of not-Amsterdam (White Roaring, capital of Ettenia), but with a few extra elements to really make it a memorably new experience. This book features vampires existing in the shadowy underground of White Roaring, including a Jack the Ripper analogue. Most of the ensemble cast are people who've come from other nations in this universe - including Arawiya, of course, but also parallels to different Asian nations. Ceylan, Qirilan, Jeevant Gar, all with lots of natural resources which the colonizing Ettenians have sought to exploit for generations - which helps motivate the likes of Arthie, Jin, and Flick to challenge the status quo. Along the way, they make a ton of shocking discoveries about Ettenia's plans for the future, all leading up to a pretty solid cliffhanger that makes me hope Faizal doesn't take as long to present the second book in this series - which I suspect will be another duology conclusion, but we'll see soon enough, I suppose.

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Review: The Familiar

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bardugo's got a pretty extensive contract to write as many as 12 new books now, and I'm thinking this standalone fantasy novel was just the first of them. It's very definitely a Bardugo book in a lot of ways - dark, moody atmosphere, strange magic, Jewish protagonist struggling to hold on to her tenuous links to her culture, a mysterious bad-boy kind of love interest? All of the above, represented.

Review: The Enchanted Hacienda

The Enchanted Hacienda by J.C. Cervantes
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book when I picked it up at the library - it looked like a sort of darker, more mature take on Disney's Encanto, but Mexican, with a flower based magic system - and maybe, just maybe, the protagonist getting to discover her magic after all. (Spoilers for Encanto, but I'm still salty that Mirabel never got a gift.) Be careful what you wish for and all that, though - because in this book, while the packaging promises mystery and darkness, it's jarring to see how oddly light in tone the book is, and yet almost every character (including Harlow, the protagonist) is annoying in their flaws at best and flat out unlikable at worst. Sorry to say, this one was definitely not for me, so it's an official DNF.

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Review: Lore of the Wilds

Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Got this romantasy rec from a friend in Z Brewer’s Minion Horde Discord server. It’s not my favorite in the genre, but it’s a nice touch to see a Black-led story of humans and Fae and a secret library that gives all the Beauty and the Beast vibes better than anything SJM ever did. (Not April Foolin’, even though that was yesterday, but whatever. I said what I said.) Lore herself is a very engaging protagonist too, with her connections to both her human family and the Fae to which she must connect in order to achieve her story goals. It’s a promising start to a new series, and my hopes are just a little higher for Book 2…

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Review: Making It So: A Memoir

Making It So: A Memoir by Patrick Stewart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I guess I’ve been on a slight celebrity memoir kick lately, having read Geddy Lee’s My Effin’ Life over Christmas, and now this memoir from Sir Patrick Stewart. Though there’s much to be said about his star-making role as Picard (my first and favorite Star Trek Captain), he wouldn’t be the great legend we know today if not for his humble beginnings in a working class family in Yorkshire (trigger warning: domestic violence, a facet of his childhood he’s spoken frankly about before), as well as his days in theater, from regional to international and always including Shakespeare. He may be disciplined, but he’s a humble and honest man too, and I relished learning about Stewart’s craft and style. And there were a few surprises in his story too - like, I didn’t realize he didn’t know Sir Ian McKellen, much less befriend him, till they played nemeses for the ages in the X-Men films. It’ll be a sad, sad day when the world loses Sir Patrick, but I think that day is still a long time coming.

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