Review: Kingdoms of Death

Kingdoms of Death by Christopher Ruocchio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think Ruocchio was originally planning a trilogy for this series, but much like his fellow hella young science-fantastist Pierce Brown, his work really grew far beyond its original scope, and very quickly too. So it was first extended, as I remember, to five books, then six, and I believe a seventh is on the way as well. But for now, here's what looks to be the middle of the Sun Eater saga, a noticeably shorter book than its predecessors, but no less full of action. Especially when the series goes back to its gladiating roots, with the twist of the Cielcin (now more developed beyond being just a monoculture - as Hadrian is surprised to learn, there's more than one Cielcin language, for one thing) being far more involved in the process as their villainy grows ever more repulsive. Seriously, this book gets surprisingly gruesome, but it also has a surprisingly soft and uplifting ending, all things considered. That said, I'm ready to keep going into Book 5, already on order at the library.

View all my reviews

Review: The Trees

The Trees by Percival Everett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Working my way through Percival Everett's bibliography in reverse order, I've now found one that's very different from all the other books I've read from him, because it covers very dark subject matter indeed - confronting the history of White supremacy and lynching, with references to some of the most infamous such incidents in American history, and also some very long lists of historical lynching deaths. Not just Black folks, but Asian too, and the lists appear not only in the text, but on the cover as well.

Review: An Echo of Things to Come

An Echo of Things to Come by James Islington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Licanius Trilogy continues with a 700-plus pager of an epic, including a much-appreciated recap of The Shadow of What Was Lost and the trilogy's expansive backstory. Now, the story continues with a lot more focus on Caeden, whose secret past has been revealed, at least to the reader - and yet there's a lot more pieces to the story than just that shocker of an ending on the first book. As with the first book, An Echo of Things to Come is very much rooted in the style of The Wheel of Time, now with emphasis on the dark side of magic not unlike the tainted saidin, but with a lot more shades of gray in its morality. I've now got Book 3 on order, but it may be a while before it comes to me, because it seems someone else in Vancouver is working their way through the library's few copies on hand...

View all my reviews

Review: Icon and Inferno

Icon and Inferno by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OLD PINECONE GENERAL'S WARNING: Any resemblance in this book to real life events is entirely coincidental, the book having come out several weeks before the real-world events that so eerily imitated it.

The two books of this latest series from Marie Lu, this YA/NA borderline action thriller with just a touch of sci-fi - now very clearly in the futuristic world of the Lu-niverse, with Emika Chen and Warcross getting some cameos, and clarifying that Warcross really was a lot less further out in the future than I thought - well, they're both actually pretty good standalone stories for the most part. Aside from this book giving Winter and Sydney a lot of trauma to work through from their last mission, and how it went so badly awry after a huge mid-book twist or two in Stars and Smoke.

Review: Under Wildwood

Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second sprawling story of the world of Wildwood also demands a Laika-produced claymation film adaptation, so here's really hoping that the Wildwood movie next year does well enough to merit a franchise. For this book, we get a brief glimpse of Prue in the real world of slushy wintertime in St. Johns - if I'd been able to read this book when I was younger, I would be a lot more aware of Portland actually possibly getting snow in the winter before I moved up to Oregon. Then, after a brief visit to the office of some quirky Ukrainians (whose dialogue is pretty damn accurate, based on my brief conversation with a Ukrainian food seller at the Vancouver Mall last weekend), off we go to the Wildwood again, though now with a lot of emphasis on the industrial wastes separating Oregon's Narnia from Oregon's biggest city. That part alone is what demands the Laika adaptation quickest of all, because it'd be something to see how well they capture that industrial vibe - and how well it compares to, say, Chicken Run or Fantastic Mr. Fox.

View all my reviews

Review: The Vermilion Emporium

The Vermilion Emporium by Jamie Pacton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

At first, after reading The Absinthe Underground, I didn't think I'd be able to find this earlier novel by Jamie Pacton at any of the local libraries. I guess I didn't look hard enough, because a few months later, after seeing The Vermilion Emporium on a Barnes & Noble shelf and checking the library website in Vancouver, I found it available to place on order, and so I did.

Review: Moonstorm

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yoon Ha Lee brings his signature style of gender diverse Korean space opera to YA, and it surprises me greatly that this book doesn't have a higher Goodreads average, because it deserves one. Well, maybe my review will help bring it up a couple points or so. Sure, it's a bit predictable in its story beats, being a mecha story with a protagonist infiltrating the ranks to take down the empire that subjugated her people. And a lot of other reviews inevitably compare it to the popular YA mecha drama Iron Widow, albeit steeped in Korean culture as opposed to Chinese. But there's definitely one thing that Lee does right that Xiran Jay Zhao does wrong - Lee writes a gripping story with characters you can actually root for. Which is why I was able to read this book in one sitting, and will happily come back for more in the planned second and third books of this trilogy. And for a film adaptation if ever we're lucky enough to get one.

View all my reviews

Review: Demon in White

Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I almost was worried that this book, at nearly 800 pages, would prove too bloated to make me want to continue with this series. How wrong I was. Even with this great size of a book, Ruocchio is really hitting his storytelling stride again. With all sorts of lavish detail to bolster this series’ ever excellent world building…but by far my favorite scenes were in the library with the revelation of the history of the Mericanii lords. From George Washington on down, 77 presidents in all, though the last one was a technocrat under whose rule I’m not surprised Mericanii leadership in civilization ended…consider this a warning from Ruocchio to preserve democracy, especially since this book was written in the tail end of the Trump years.

View all my reviews

Review: Dr. No

Dr. No by Percival Everett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As Finn from Adventure Time would say, "MATHEMATICAL!"

As Cosmo from The Fairly Oddparents would say, "It's a show about nothing!...how do we know when it's over?"

As John Cage would say, "4' 33"."

This book has a literal lot of nothing going on, it's a nothingburger in an organic nothing bun with a spread of nothing condiments. And while I've still experienced little of Percival Everett's expansive bibliography yet, it's still got me wanting to read more, even though I didn't like this one as much as Erasure or James. Still, though, Everett maintains his signature blunt satire and philosophically rambling style with a James Bond send-up that's about as anti-Bond as it gets, and on that bottom line, he delivers.

View all my reviews

Review: Mirrored Heavens

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rebecca Roanhorse brings her biggest story yet to its long awaited conclusion in 600 pages or less - well, technically, yes, a little bit less than 600. But it does take its time to reach that conclusion for our cast of (sometimes anti) heroes - to the point where I almost wondered if Roanhorse was waiting to make a surprise announcement that this wouldn't be the end of the series after all. Nope. It's the end of the road for Serapio, Xiala, Ixtan, Naranpa, and now Balam getting some spotlight as well. There's so much going on as the characters struggle to pick up the pieces the last two books left them with - the dramatic irony of Ixtan believing that xir lover Naranpa is no longer alive, Xiala having to regain her Song at dark, dark cost, and of course my favorite, Serapio, struggling to break free from the stranglehold of the religion in which he was raised, turning him to do such dark things in his life. I'd say, though, that what Roanhorse really has to say about all these diverse and diversely motivated characters is that in the end, love will win, if you fight for it. And for that, I bid Between Earth and Sky the ave atque vale it deserves.

View all my reviews

Review: Wildwood

Wildwood by Colin Meloy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've had this one on my radar for a little while ever since Laika Studios announced that it would be the source material for their next stop-motion movie, expected in theaters next year. Being that this book came out a couple of years after Laika's breakthrough hit Coraline, I can imagine that Meloy and Ellis took some inspiration from that movie with the dynamic between Prue and Curtis - something like Coraline and Wybie, but less antagonistic with each other to start. But I've also been to Portland's Forest Park enough times to see that the idea of it being essentially Oregon Narnia makes a fair amount of sense - even with the book adding the extra quirk that the Impassable Woods are accessible only via a St. John's Bridge that's normally nonexistent to the locals (and incidentally turns St. John's into a massive cul-de-sac of a neighborhood.) The book does drag on a bit, as some reviewers have noticed - the Laika team is for sure going to have to cut a lot of material out, kind of the opposite of their approach to Coraline where the book was smaller so the movie had to add more material. But for those readers who've become disillusioned with Neil Gaiman in the wake of his recent misconduct allegations, Wildwood would surely be a good stylistic fit if they want something else in a similar style.

View all my reviews

Review: Blood at the Root

Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If I was still working at the Stanford Bookstore, I'd be hand-selling this book to the best of my ability. Unapologetically by and for Black boys who believe they have no magic in this life, LaDarrion Williams takes us to Caiman University, an HBCU for magic, and many types of magic as practiced in Black cultures throughout history. Malik, the protagonist, has known he's had magic for years, but due to a bevy of troubles in his life, the magical family he barely even knew about brings him to Caiman U a little ahead of schedule because of rising threats to the Black community, magical and non-magical alike, throughout the South. His friends and family are never exactly who you expect, though - and while I was able to predict a few betrayal twists, they still stung like a mother, if you know what I mean. The fallout from the last hundred pages or so will definitely cast a pall on the inevitable sequel, which promises to be full of drama, not to mention the presence of one of the most famous Black witches in history. Hopefully by next summer I'll be able to read it along with everyone else!

View all my reviews