Review: The Jasad Crown

The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I can see now why it took Sara Hashem so long to bring us the sequel to The Jasad Heir, because she caught the duology train like so many other writers and concluded her series with a great big doorstopper, almost 700 pages long. This one book could’ve easily been two for a total of a trilogy, but the duology trend, it really does have its own gravity. But for one of my favorite romantasy series (though Thea Guanzon’s books still take the chocolate cherry cake), it’s a suitably bittersweet ending, especially in the actual ending which catches up with certain characters weeks, months, years, and finally a decade after all the action is said and done. I hope to see more from Hashem soon, but for now, it’s ave atque vale to Jasad and her ever warring neighbors.

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Review: Bones at the Crossroads

Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Back we go to Caiman U for more magic, mayhem, and murder…and thankfully this, unlike way too many second books in YA fantasy, is NOT a duology conclusion, because that ending demands resolution expeditiously. This book picks up in the new fall semester at Caiman, with Malik reeling from a metric ton of betrayals, quickly figuring out that those in authority don’t have his best interests at heart (or anyone else’s but their own)…and yet, he’s also able to cement his friendships with the likes of Elijah, Savon, and D Low (the latter two seeking to make history as Caiman’s first ever Queer Homecoming Royals, upending decades of homophobic practice), and he’s finding himself drawn to a new love interest, Dom, who seems like the perfect lady for him…but then, so did Alexis, and look what happened there, eh? All I can say is that Williams is nothing if not a dramatic storyteller, and after all the twists and turns of this book, it may take more than one new novel to wrap it all up. But I’ll be ready to read all those books when they come.

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Review: JanIus: Enter the King

JanIus: Enter the King by D L Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

D.L. Hannah continues the JanIus trilogy with a second book that ramps up the medical, family, and political drama to new and truly diabolical levels. As much as Justin, Fawn, and all the doctors at the clinic which Fawn now runs are all on a mission for much needed equity in these worlds, malevolent forces have their way of sneaking in when people’s guards are down, and that evil is taking on its most manipulative form yet. Extra gripping in its mystery elements, this one builds up with twist upon twist in its last few chapters, and it’s very hard to predict where the third and final book of the trilogy will go. But since this book was delivered a full week ahead of schedule, I might just see about ordering the third book straight from Hannah’s website, rather than wait till after my projected move to a new apartment in October as I was afraid I might have to do…

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Review: Fateless

Fateless by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Julie Kagawa returns with an action-packed start to her latest original YA fantasy series, set in a desert world perpetually baking under two suns, where a young thief must team up with a mysterious elfin assassin (iylvahn, his race is called) to stop a zealot or two from raising the very evil that doomed the world in centuries past. In that respect, this book is syncretic of the likes of Six of Crows, Nevernight, Dune, and Gideon the Ninth, with the typical propulsive pace of Kagawa’s work. While I’m a little less sold on the romance aspect on this one, I’m hoping to see the next two books very soon (and yes, this one better be at least a trilogy. I mean it.)

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Review: The Lion Women of Tehran

The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’d been meaning to read this one for a while, but it somehow slipped my notice until I happened to find it on a library shelf in Portland. If I’d read it in 2024 when it was first published, it would’ve absolutely topped my list of best books of the year. This beautiful and powerful historical novel spans decades in Iran and America, first in the time of the Shah, then the Ayatollah. I’ve long been fascinated with the cultural riches of Iran (the artwork! The architecture! The religions! [Yes, plural.] and the food!!), and it’s beyond shameful that the country has been in the grips of authoritarian evil for as long as it has. Elaheh (aka Ellie) and Homa start as such inseparable friends, until family and political forces drive them apart (dear God is Ellie’s mom an insufferable witch, although she definitely becomes more sympathetic over time.)

Review: Terror at the Gates

Terror at the Gates by Scarlett St. Clair
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another damn fine entry in the romantasy canon, this one heavily bastardizes the Old Testament with its setting in a modern neon Nineveh. It’s kind of a mashup of Crescent City and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with a touch of Guardians of the Galaxy and also Dungeons & Dragons in its DNA, the latter stemming from the consistent presence of a strange gelatinous substance which becomes associated with the sites of demonic killings. Also, St. Clair is well versed in the lore of Lilith and how she connects to similar legends in cultures both current and historical, so this book taught me more about her than any other to date. Naturally, this one is already in the ranks of books where, in my own books, my characters get to see them as proper bloody movies yet.

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Review: JanIus: Pawns

JanIus: Pawns by D L Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

D.L. Hannah returns to her interplanetary saga with the long awaited third arc that picks up roughly where the original trilogy left off. Dr. Justin Ascensio leaves an increasingly fascist-polluted America (where analogues of Trump and Musk try to force their gaudy and technocratic brands of evil on the country, and the world) to take a position on the world of JanIus. Here, he proves a very popular new doctor, in part because he makes it a point of rejecting the corruption, violence, and misogyny of current physician Dr. Azini. (I’m not a doctor, but I’ve worked in clinics for several years, and let me tell you, some of Justin’s methods of tearing down abusers and wrongdoers are serious wish fulfillment for me.) When we’re not following Justin, we’re following Fawn Azini, the not-so-good doctor’s daughter, who aims to be a doctor herself despite her father’s hateful insistence otherwise…if she can survive Platirian-style training first. (Yes, lots of fave characters from Platirius and Coldarius make welcome returns.) While I may have some of my future reading delayed while I make preparations to move, I’ve already got my preorder in place for Book 2, Enter the King…from Hannah’s own website, now that she’s got her own sales portal up and running!

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