Review: Play On: Now, Then, And Fleetwood Mac

Play On: Now, Then, And Fleetwood Mac by Mick Fleetwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

To hear Mick Fleetwood tell it in his memoir, the first of the many Fleetwood Mac biographies that I've found to be in the first person, if there was one unifying theme about the band and its many members, it's that none of them were classically trained...but especially not the blockbuster Buckingham Nicks incarnation of the band. Even Fleetwood himself, being dyslexic, came to learn the drums almost entirely by ear, and by his own admission, he would never play the song the exact same way twice. Any song. Which of course, caused no small irritation to a productionary perfectionist like Lindsey Buckingham. But what surprises me the most is learning that Fleetwood, far from the wild-eyed English giant we all know him to be, began as a shrinking violet of a boy before he matured into the rockstar we all know him as today.

View all my reviews

Review: All Better Now

All Better Now by Neal Shusterman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Neal Shusterman returns with his latest thought-provoking YA SFF thriller, this one a standalone piece set in a near future with a new pandemic, a bit deadlier than Covid at a 4% mortality rate, one in twenty-five...but those who recover from the Crown Royale virus lose all negative emotion and live in a state of blissful contentment. Happiness might be the perfect antidote to the endless negativity and division in the world today, but this is a Shusterman novel we're talking about, so there's going to be a catch to all the happiness.

Review: Death of the Author

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It somehow escaped my notice all these years that Nnedi Okorafor is disabled, in a similar way to Zelu, the protagonist of her latest novel. With that in mind, however, it makes this book feel like not only a reflection of Okorafor herself, but also an exercise in how to make a protagonist who is in so many ways not her creator.

Review: Platirius: Infiltration

Platirius: Infiltration by D.L. Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first of a planned trilogy of indie sci fi novellas, with the second and third books coming out in April and July of this year (and I preordered them already at the same time as when I ordered the first book in paperback.) I’ve been attempting to get back into Apple TV’s Foundation lately, helped by the fact that I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was hoping for with Dune: Prophecy. I have to say, this bite sized book, chock full as it is of tense imperial and family drama alike, is the Prophecy that Dune deserved. The ending takes a sharp left turn I wasn’t expecting at all, reminiscent of the ending of the last season of Silo, but I’m very curious to see how Hannah weaves these disparate story threads together in the sequels. Yes, my preorders will stay on, and hopefully there won’t be any weather related delays on the shipping when those warmer months come along.

View all my reviews

Review: Breath of the Dragon

Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee (no relation) team up to make an action packed new YA fantasy series, meant to honor the ways of Shannon Lee’s father, the late Bruce Lee. And Fonda Lee, while it’s been quite some time since she wrote a fighting boy in YA (her debut Zeroboxer being a sci fi take on MMA), it’s like riding a bike. She never forgot. And on this book, set in a fantasy world modeled on China with sharp political and class divisions, not to mention some interesting takes on tropes about almost everyone in the world having superpowers while our protagonist doesn’t, he knows very well how to make a name for himself in a world that otherwise wouldn’t accept him. Jun wears the clear influences of Tavi, Mirabel, and especially Deku on his heart - not really his sleeve, since it’s a martial arts kind of story and even on the cover he’s got bare arms. It’s only the first half of his story, though, so by next year we’ll be ready to witness how it all ends.

View all my reviews

Review: The Dagger and the Flame

The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can see why this one had a fairly long wait list at the library - it was almost two months after I ordered it there that I finally got to read it. Though this French inspired fantasy is marketed as YA, it definitely aims for more of an NA readership, with its dark tone (particularly when Ransom takes in more Shade, it’s very opium-like in nature), and especially its spicy moments. Not to the level of Rebecca Yarros or Thea Guanzon or SJM, but this book, like Guanzon’s Reylo-inspired books, is a great example of enemies to lovers actually done right, tense and engaging because it’s so hard to tell which side of that particular trope spectrum this book will fall on in the end. Except it’s not the end, not when Doyle is already about to publish a sequel by the end of this year…

View all my reviews

Review: The Whispering Night

The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

In which a less brooding Wednesday than Addams goes to the Rave’N…sorry, the Nightmare Masquerade. I said I wasn’t likely to continue this series after The Hunting Moon, but after more cover love with this gloriously creepy image, Dennard suckered me in for one last visit to Winnie Wednesday’s hometown…or is it? For being the end of a trilogy, it feels like there’s a lot of loose plot threads left hanging. Unfortunately that’s more or less to be expected from a series that, for me, defines “missed potential.” Maybe this one should’ve stayed in the Twitter and Instagram polls, because it just never came to life for me as a book or three. That, plus Dennard bizarrely prioritized this over the Witchlands with only one book left in that series - did she sign a contract she couldn’t get out of? Thankfully, her true flagship series is finally expected later this year, along with a new standalone fantasy mystery of a similar vibe to this series, The Executioners Three. In spite of myself, I’m still looking forward to Executioners, if only because I’m hoping Dennard can get right with that one, what she wasn’t able to do for The Luminaries.

View all my reviews

Review: Goddess of the River

Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A couple of years after her first foray into Hindu legendary fantasy with Kaikeyi, Vaishnavi Patel returns to retell aspects of the Mahabharata from another woman’s perspective. In this case, it’s the goddess of the river that she focuses on, a goddess after whom India’s greatest river took its name. Granted, I ought to read the old stories at some point, especially if I’m to truly understand where Patel is coming from in her work - although I certainly wouldn’t be smart enough to read it in the original Sanskrit as Oppenheimer would’ve attempted circa a century ago. What I do understand best about this book, though, is how it teaches the importance of restoration, one stone at a time. Restoration of nature, or justice, or balance? Why not all of the above? Heaven knows we need it.

View all my reviews