Review: Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For a while now, after writing three unique and thought-provoking YA novels set in Garden Heights, Angie Thomas has been hinting that she would pivot to middle-grade fantasy. Now, that day has finally come, with the first in a planned trilogy of magical Black kids kicking monster butt in a world that exists at right angles to the America we know. Alongside Thomas's real hometown of Jackson, Mississippi (and its extinct volcano, which is, yes, plot relevant), there's a whole modern world of the Remarkables, with their own cities and news media and corporations and pop culture, and even some in-universe meta-humor due to the layers of stories within stories, since Nic (named after Nic Stone? I wouldn't be surprised if so, given she and Thomas have been such great friends) and her generation aren't the first to fight evil, not by a long shot. Not unlike Kwame Mbalia's Tristan Strong trilogy for Rick Riordan Presents, this series also incorporates some of the most famous examples of African-American folklore, with special mention going to John Henry and his hammer. So far, two of Thomas's novels have gotten film adaptations, and while Concrete Rose still hasn't - probably because it'd be tied into the same rights deals as The Hate U Give, produced by a now-defunct company - I'm hoping to see this one get the movie treatment next.

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Review: Promises Stronger Than Darkness

Promises Stronger Than Darkness by Charlie Jane Anders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Charlie Jane Anders sticks the landing in the third and final novel of the Unstoppable space opera trilogy, now with higher stakes than each of the first two books combined and an even wider variety of POV characters. Not only do we get Tina (at last, back in the spotlight!) and Elza and Rachael returning from previous installments, but also the likes of Kez (now openly genderfluid, so their pronoun changes get signaled every few chapters) and Wyndgonk (with unique fire pronouns and at least nine eyes to go around.) But while this band of space captains (including a few co captain jokes referencing Legends of Tomorrow, a favorite show of Anders’s if I remember correctly) has to face the scarily psychoactive villain Marrant for the final time, it’s the alleged hero Thaoh Argentian causing the most problems to start, because she clearly learned a bit of ethics from the Lightbournes on The 100. But Anders, while delving into thorny issues a time or two, brings the book and the trilogy to a very gloriously uplifting ending, and to this series I now bid ave atque vale.

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Review: Untethered Sky

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After several years and a few delays as she wrote the Green Bone Saga and assorted short stories thereof, Fonda Lee expressed relief, in her launch appearance this week at Powell’s in Beaverton, that she was pivoting to something much smaller. And yet, the worldbuilding must still be as detailed as that of her larger work, even if there’s much the reader doesn’t get to see. Set in an empire inspired by pre-Islamic Ancient Persia (plus a dash of Ottoman) where manticores kill and rukhers fly giant rocs into battle, our protagonist Ester gets to bond with a roc named Zahra, and takes on a more vengeful approach to waging war on the creatures that killed her family. In a sense, it’s a deconstruction of the trope of the psychically bonded warrior and their dragon, or whatever other flying mount they may have. A bite sized, but very effective, piece from Lee, perfect to tide the fans over while awaiting her next work, her promised sci fi cyberpunk samurai duology…

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Review: Discordia

Discordia by Kristyn Merbeth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kristyn Merbeth’s synthwave packaged space opera trilogy ends with yet more neon bisexually lit cover love, and of course an ending about as good as can be expected. Corvus and Scorpia, our sibling protagonists, still have much to deal with thanks to the endless machinations of their family, but after two adventures and much havoc and destruction, here the story ends at last. Now, as I declare ave atque vale to Nova Vita, it’s time to wonder how long it’ll take before we get a much needed film adaptation. Though the first place where that will be a reality is, of course, my current manuscript work in progress…

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Review: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yes Blake, I believe you’re right. Sanderson did, in fact, do an isekai.

The second of four Secret Projects in the Year of Sanderson is, by Brandon Sanderson’s own admission, the odd man out for a number of reasons. It’s fantasy like all the others, albeit sci fi in disguise with its use of historically semi accurate at best pocket dimensions for its setting. It’s not part of the Cosmere, but it’s at least part of Sanderson’s Alcatraz series, which really flew under my radar because I was already a bit aged out of the target audience when they came out…but one day I’ll read them too. It’s got a lot of thoughtful comments about history and its course, because while all the infinite pocket dimensions are infinite combinations that may not necessarily impact the real world, we of enlightened mind can all agree that it’s good to have safeguards so you can’t do a colonialism.

But most of all, this book, more than many I’ve seen in a while, adheres to one of Sanderson’s brightest laws of magic: “Err on the side of awesome.”

Here’s hoping the hardcover version doesn’t take the whole quarter to get to my mailbox…but when it does arrive, I’m absolutely rereading as soon as possible.

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Review: A Day of Fallen Night

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Say, has Shannon established a pattern? I’d say so. A couple of them, in fact: releasing new novels each odd numbered calendar year, and now, alternating between novels of The Bone Season and the novels of The Priory of the Orange Tree, or, as we now call this series, Roots of Chaos. Here, Shannon gives us an epic standalone prequel, as much of an 800 page brick as Priory was, and equally full of world-hopping multiple POVs from across the many in universe nations and ethnic groups Shannon has written. And yes, at least one lesbian romance, because of course. This time, Shannon explores the frigid North of Hróth, which lay mostly unseen or even unheard from in Priory,, and includes one of my favorite characters since Ead and Sabran as its primary viewpoint character: a foundling named Wulf. It’s set about 500 years before Priory, but mercifully doesn’t require reading that book in advance of this one. Truly, it’s a standalone prequel, and I’m absolutely not surprised that Shannon wasn’t done with this world after Priory was published. There’s just so many stories to tell…but for now, I’m most eagerly awaiting TBS5 after that insidious cliffhanger on The Mask Falling…

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