Review: Shadows Upon Time

Shadows Upon Time by Christopher Ruocchio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was wondering after Ruocchio and Pierce Brown released their long delayed sixth novels which of the two young masters would finish their saga first. That question is now officially answered as Ruocchio caps off the saga of the Sun Eater, Hadrian Marlowe, in a 900 page epic that finally truly gives his sobriquet its true meaning. Filled to the brim with world shattering weapons to be used against increasingly deadly truths of the metaphysics of the universe itself…all building up to a mournful ending as if Ruocchio was fixing his gaze on PB and telling him, “your move, boyo.” At long last, the time has come to tell Hadrian Marlowe, ave atque vale.

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Review: Alexandria: The City that Changed the World

Alexandria: The City that Changed the World by Islam Issa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Islam Issa presents a definitive, comprehensive, digestible, and all around fascinating history of one of the world’s greatest cities of all time. Delving into every era in detail - ancient precursors, Ptolemaic Greek, early Christian, caliphate conquest, Napoleonic, all the way to the modern Egypt Issa knows well - it still manages to teach me much I hadn’t known before. Like how Alexander himself never saw this city built in his honor, or how Egyptian figs are actually the fruit of a sycamore tree. But as a cosmopolitan center of world culture and politics back in the day, it’s the model city to which all others today must strive to follow, if they are to leave nearly as much of a mark even when their time appears to have come and gone.

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Review: The Awakening of Roku

The Awakening of Roku by Randy Ribay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Randy Robay concludes his first duology in Chronicles of the Avatar with Roku leaving his adolescence behind and truly becoming a man of the world. Tracing a mysterious illness to its source, learning the ways of waterbending and witnessing for himself that the Water Tribes have much more distinct customs than we ever thought (Ribay shouts out some good research material he made use of while learning about real Inuit peoples), but also, this is where we start to really see the corruption of Fire Lord Sozin and his eventual fall to the dark side, which gives the very end of this book a bittersweet note. My guess, though? Based on the considerable presence of Avatar Kuruk in this book, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ribay was setting up to finally write his duology next.

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Review: A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I first heard of this book several years ago when Charlie Jane Anders used it as an example for a Star Wars book she wanted to write, as an exploration of how the Empire could successfully wipe out all historical records of the Republic and the Jedi could be considered a myth less than a decade after they were purged. It took years before I finally found a library copy - in Beaverton, whereas it was unavailable in Vancouver or Portland before - and I had no idea how expansive the scope of this novel would be. Spanning many post apocalyptic centuries, this is exactly the novel that doesn’t lend itself well to optimism in a nightmarish time of history. But then, remember - it was even bigger atrocities, namely those of WWII, that inspired this book to begin with.

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Review: Better in Black

Better in Black by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though Cassie Clare has been on a long hiatus from the greater Shadowhunter world, and emphasizing The Chronicles of Castellane far more, this collection of romantic short stories is a welcome trip back to her signature series. Couples from every Shadowhunter era are represented, although my faves are definitely the ones from TMI and TID. Particularly when Tessa is involved. And Clary. And Simon and Izzy. And there’s a nice change of pace with a story narrated by Luke, with Jocelyn as second person POV. I wasn’t nearly as much into the pairings from TLH, but it was great to see what Emma and Julian get up to after TDA ends - although I’m still salty that Clare wrote it so the good Shadowhunters abandoned their homeland to the Cohort. It’s a good thing this series isn’t super influential politically like The Hunger Games, because the last thing we need is for progressives and liberals to copycat that and abandon America to the fascist right wing…but I digress. What piques my interest the most, though, is the sneak peek to the long awaited next novel in the saga, the first of the final trilogy…well played, Cassie. That’s a very interesting setup, to say the least.

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Review: Brigands & Breadknives

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

By his own admission, Travis Baldree often has trouble writing the next book in this series, and this time it really showed more than before. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a welcome change to see Fern, that adorably foul mouthed rattkin, as the principal POV character this time around. She sure grew on me a lot in Bookshops & Bonedust, and clearly on Baldree himself too. But this book also takes the chance of being massively different from its predecessors in that we don’t get to see Fern establish a new business to this world the way Viv often does. No, Fern is basically on a midlife crisis adventure, and the storyline feels like it has to take more leaps of logic from beat to beat. Then again, don’t go by me. I never played D&D.

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Review: The House Saphir

The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Marissa Meyer, after a few years pivoting away to contemporary YA, returns to her fantasy and fairytale retelling roots with a new standalone piece that’s très français, and unexpectedly dark on top of that. Inspired by the old tale of Bluebeard, this book follows a young witch with limited powers as she takes on a job from a guy said to be related to Monsieur le Bleu himself, and Monsieur is, how you say, maybe not so dead and gone as you might think. Though it doesn’t quite command the heights of previous Meyer fantasy books, it’s a damn sight better than her more recent 2020s work in the genre. She’s not the titan she used to be, but she’s clearly revving up for an even bigger comeback very soon, I hope…

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