Review: Cello's Gate

Cello's Gate by Maurice Africh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I found this indie SFF novel on the shelf at the Sherwood Bookstore in the outermost suburbs of Portland, and while the author’s website indicated that it wouldn’t necessarily be in bookstores unless specifically ordered, I guess the people of Sherwood must’ve made that order. The book was also in stock at the Multnomah County Library in Portland, allowing me to get a copy in short order and read it almost as quickly. It’s a serviceably rollicking adventure, equal parts Firefly, One Piece, and Guardians of the Galaxy, with a touch of Matthew Reilly in the DNA as well to make it readable in one sitting despite its nearly 600 page length. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the sequel, though since this is indie, it may not necessarily stick to any annual timetable…

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Review: Ink & Sigil

Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I didn't realize until very recently, while visiting Barnes & Noble, that Kevin Hearne had written a new spinoff series from the world of The Iron Druid Chronicles, and that it was a complete trilogy centered on Glaswegian mage Al MacBharrais, who's had a few curses on his heid and that in recent years. He can't speak without triggering an intense hatred from other people (thankfully this effect only comes about if he's in their presence for a short while, not instantaneously, though he still needs to rely on writing out his words or using text-to-speech programs that never have Glaswegian voices to choose from), and his apprentices have all been dying mysterious deaths, with the seventh in a row now the subject of a police investigation. It's a pretty quick and easy read just like the Iron Druid novels that came before it, and I've already got the remaining two books on my shelf ready to read very soon.

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Review: Songlight

Songlight by Moira Buffini
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book, but I guess after the phenomenal thrills of Coldwire I’m in a bit of a reading slump. At first this one felt like it’d be a good addition to the YA dystopia ranks, but it certainly doesn’t match the highs and lows of the great classics in the style. The book toggles between far too many POV’s whom I have difficulty distinguishing, and the world building feels pretty thin on the ground. It’s not an immersive world at all, so it’s an official DNF from me, I’m sad to say.

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Review: Coldwire

Coldwire by Chloe Gong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“Then it turned out AI tour guides freaked people out too much.”

Chloe Gong’s been busy these last few years, and while I wasn’t nearly as enamored with her Flesh and False Gods saga, this latest start to a new futuristic series, a kickass second-world cyberpunk thriller, shows how much she is back and better than ever before. Easily comparable to Marie Lu’s cyberpunk dystopias, this book is set in a parallel world circa 2058, where instead of the national superpowers we know, there are two main superpowers locked in a constant cold war: Atahua and Medaluo. Both are vast nations, located on opposite sides of the world - there’s a twelve hour time difference, and it takes almost nine hours just to drive across Medaluo. Though both have Chinese sounding names, it’s not hard to see the rival nations as the worst excesses of America and China and Russia come to a head.

Review: Witchlight

Witchlight by Susan Dennard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's finally here - the end of the Witchlands saga. To think that while Susan Dennard has increasingly detoured away from this series in recent years, it's still remained her signature work, her benchmark. And by sheer coincidence, the release cycles of the five main novels in this series (and of course the novella Sightwitch) almost perfectly coincided with the release cycles of each individual season of Stranger Things:

Review: Silver and Lead

Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a couple of years’ hiatus following that big double header a couple years back, Seanan McGuire brings back her best protagonist for her 19th adventure in the Faerie knowes of San Francisco and beyond, where the pieces left behind by Titania’s alternate universe spell still need to be picked up. Namely, the theft of a good number of royal artifacts. And also the fact that Toby is pregnant now, and missed several months of that while under Titania’s evil spell. And the fact that the Luidaeg wants to be the baby’s godparent (an unnerving proposition to say the least.) While McGuire’s other worlds have been unhooking me as a reader during Toby’s hiatus - I’m especially looking at InCryptid with its increased emphasis on the cuckoos and how, unintentionally or otherwise, they include almost every negative autistic stereotype you can think of - it’s Toby’s world I’ve been looking forward to returning to the most. And on the 19th novel in the series, McGuire again delivers a fast paced, rollicking adventure worthy of any Faerie kingdom’s treasure.

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Review: The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine #2: What Lurks in the Shadows

The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine #2: What Lurks in the Shadows by Z Brewer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I remember correctly, Pibling Z announced this series with only two books to start, but reading this quick little all-ages thriller makes it clear that there has to be at least one more to resolve certain cliffhangers. As a loyal Z Brewer Minion Horde reader almost all the way back to the beginning of their career, this book gave me flashbacks to the original Chronicles of Vladimir Tod something fierce, with Viktor having to deal with not only friendship drama with Damon, but Alys as well. Not to mention Joss McMillan being back in the picture to train Alys as a Slayer, October still refusing to speak to Joss even though she's married to his cousin Henry...and, of course, Lilith being Lilith and lurking on the periphery with her unknowable, mysterious schemes. And it happens that I read this book on the same evening when I cracked open a bottle of Sprite Vanilla Frost, so similarly named to the Prairie Frost which Viktor drinks at times in this book. While I didn't get to read this one at Halloween (due in large part to my having moved in October of this year), hopefully if Book 3 comes along at Halloween next year, I'll be able to properly read it during that season...

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