Review: Dear Manny

Dear Manny by Nic Stone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s been quite a while since I read any Nic Stone books, and you can imagine my surprise when I learned that not only was she following up on Dear Martin and Dear Justyce with the promised final novel in the trilogy, but that it would be centered on, of all characters, Jared. Yes, the same entitled white boy who, in the first two books, seemingly could never understand how privileged he was, and how ignorant he was.

Review: The Ragpicker King

The Ragpicker King by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lately, I've seen a number of Jewish readers criticizing this book's publisher, Del Rey, for having also published another fantasy novel whose storyline is heavily reliant on antisemitic tropes and stereotypes: Homegrown Magic by Jamie Pacton and Becca Podos. It's heavily ironic because Podos is herself Jewish, but also staunchly anti-Zionist, and has accused her critics of only coming after her personally because of her stance on Israel and Palestine - which isn't really off base, as I've seen several Jewish readers criticize her for precisely this reason, but also because they perceive her as being ashamed of her Jewish identity and trafficking in "Jews control the money and the world" canards in an effort to appeal to fellow leftists who play up their own brand of antisemitism.

Not being Jewish, I can only be an observer of this debate. But having read Cassandra Clare's latest novel, I feel that she has captured the nature of this kind of internecine conflict best. Of course it's far from a perfect match to the debate over Homegrown Magic, but that sort of debate might very well exist among the Ashkari people in these Chronicles of Castellane.

Review: Platirius: The Rise of Reve

Platirius: The Rise of Reve by D.L. Hannah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

D.L. Hannah’s second novella of Platirius (though far from the last book in this universe; she’s planning at least three distinct story arcs that I know of) sheds a lot of light on Revari’s past to further flesh out her complex character. In her time on Earth, using psychic powers eerily reminiscent of Marissa Meyer’s Lunars, she’s got a pedophile businessman to tear down in a way we all wish could happen to a few other sick, twisted corporate demons in real life - and Hannah, today, brought this up as an example of why she wouldn’t abide any defense of the Australian romance novelist who’s now under arrest for distributing CSA material in a now canceled novel. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as this book dives more deeply into the fraught (to put it mildly) sexual divide between MaleForms who resent no longer having power on this planet, and WomenForms who have long tired of the ways of the patriarchy. Hannah says this book was her favorite to write in the original trilogy, and I can see why. But still my expectations stay high for the third book, which is looking ready to ship sometime next month…

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Review: Sunrise on the Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Haymitch novel the fans have been clamoring for for years? Or does Collins have a few curveballs up her sleeve?

As it happens, ¿porqué no los dos?

OLD PINECONE GENERAL'S WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK FIRST. GO INTO THE BOOK WITH AS LITTLE KNOWLEDGE AS POSSIBLE.

Review: A Dragon of Black Glass

A Dragon of Black Glass by James Rollins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“‘Such are our roles,’ Rami stated with a tired sigh. ‘To be a shining promise during bleak times.’”

Rollins returns to the world of MoonFall after a two year hiatus, during which time the real world has started riding the express elevator to hell in a handbasket once again, and we absolutely need heroes like Nyx and Kanthe and Rami to steer our course right again.

As with the previous book, Nyx continues her explorations of the farthest reaches of the Urth, searching with a loyal crew for artifacts that could resume the world's lost rotation - and along the way, meeting even more creatures worthy of the Sanderson-esque bestiary, as well as moving cities that feel like a cross between Sanderson's own Sunlit Man and The Mortal Engines. Meanwhile, Kanthe continues to play the Game of Thrones in the Southern Klashe, where Rami is really the only friend he's got, that princely bromance for the ages. (If my buddy Koda ever reads this series, he'll love how much Kanthe and Rami could be friends with some of his own characters.)

Review: Autopsy of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob

Autopsy of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob by Avan Jogia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a teenager, I always wished I could be half as cool as Beck Oliver. His rockstar aesthetic, down to his majority black wardrobe (especially the boots) and dear God did he have perfect hair. I tried to grow my hair long then too, but unfortunately it ended up resembling the wrong Canadian, being more Bieber-style. All that would’ve needed to complete the image of perfection was Beck to finally wise up to how shitty a girlfriend Jade was, and that Tori was a better match. (But then again, I shipped them more on the basis of how attractive they both were, than anything else.)

As an adult, though?

I can empathize more with Jogia’s account of his years of trauma and associated coping mechanisms.

Review: The Sacred Datura

The Sacred Datura by J. Evan Ramos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

J. Evan Ramos’s indie dark fantasy feels like if Stephen Graham Jones wrote an episode of The Twilight Zone, with a dash of Welcome to Night Vale in the DNA as well - seriously, I can only see that Ramos named a character Cecil as a Night Vale reference. Centered on a teenage girl named Sam who drinks her sorrows away, it soon becomes clear that a certain poison prized by Indigenous peoples might be the only conduit to saving her long lost little brother. The blurb describes it as being set at the turn of the millennium, which this book does very subtly, similar to Firekeeper’s Daughter, while the location is ambiguously Southwestern. My first guess would’ve been Arizona, but since Ramos is from San Diego, and my own first association with the name “Datura” is from an early Odd Thomas novel in the Mojave Desert, I can see it being a far Southern Californian location too. This indie thriller is absolutely not to be missed.

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Review: The Dark Mirror

The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four years ago, The Mask Falling was the last book I was reading before I left California, which seemed fitting to tie in to Paige having finally left Britain in that book after so many years. But with this book, we're taken even further afield to see how the last great bastion of resistance to Scion in Europe is doing. But first, a little trip into Eastern Europe to meet some pan-Slavic Domino agents before we finally get down to the promised main setting of this book: Italy.

Review: The Medici Return

The Medici Return by Steve Berry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This week, a doctor I work with told me the story of how allegedly the Catholic Church began its tradition of fish on Friday as part of a past Pope’s involvement in controlling the Italian fishing industry. While it’s an urban legend that proliferated very well without my knowledge, it nevertheless pairs very well with this latest Cotton Malone novel from Steve Berry, in which Malone investigates reports of an unpaid debt from the Vatican to the old Medici family. Naturally, there’s a Cardinal with a bit too much personal involvement, as well as an enterprising modern day Italian who claims descent from the Medici family, and if provable, he could inherit the collection of that debt with centuries’ worth of interest. All in all, a serviceable if slightly dry outing from Berry, but that probably owes more to me reading this one at the sane time as one I’ve truly been waiting for years to read, Samantha Shannon’s The Dark Mirror.

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Review: Mister Magic

Mister Magic by Kiersten White
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’ll be generous with an extra star on this one, but I’m honestly not sure why. Kiersten White has historically been one of those authors whose books, every time I’ve tried one, I’ve come up disappointed, and this was no exception. I get that she’s using this one to work through breaking away from the Mormon world where she was born and raised (and to think I was one of those who found her attempts at queer rep in past books, particularly And I Darken, to suffer from heavy stereotyping, only to now realize the seeds for her leaving the LDS Church have been growing for years.) I get that she’s hopping onto the analog horror train, in the same “cursed 90s kids show” car where Jane Schoenbrun and Ransom Riggs have been riding lately too, not to mention Edgar Cantero some years ago with his god-awful (if somewhat ahead of its time) grimdark Scooby-Doo riff, Meddling Kids. Unfortunately, what sinks this book is its muddled and increasingly nonsensical plot, and characters who fall flatter than pancakes. I think I’ve finally learned my lesson at this point - no more Kiersten White books for me.

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Review: The Adventures of Tim & Fluff

The Adventures of Tim & Fluff by Firdaus Ahmed
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This one is for the kids, and for the animal lovers of all ages. Another reviewer compared it to Studio Ghibli, but I’d say if another animation studio could adapt this book, it’d be Aardman. (I may or may not have just gotten around to watching the new Wallace and Gromit movie last weekend in honor of its Oscar nomination…) But this book of animals learning to work together in the face of adversity in common would also pair well with the recent hit Flow, as well as The Wild Robot due to its high number of characters who read as neurodivergent in some way. Particularly Tim, the bouncy dog with the uniquely bunny-like locomotion, and Fluff, who embodies all the hauteur for which cats are known, but it’s all a façade even if he’s not ready to admit it. And both adorable pets have such a strong sense of justice, and know when to do the right thing even at risk of their friendships and their health. I hope to see more of their adventures someday, and to recommend this book to as many kids as I can, especially the kids who come to my workplace for doctor’s appointments.

P.S. Love how this book shouts out the best Chris of them all. Evans and Pine and Pratt and Hemsworth are all cool, but none beat the man whose name went to Luna's dad: Christopher Charles Wood.

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Review: The Sicilian Inheritance

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s a tale of two Sicilian ladies, one a modern day American visiting her ancestral homeland, while the other is one of her ancestors, who found herself in a serious series of unfortunate events. Teen pregnancy, a patriarchy that flat out disrespected her, and a mafia murder whose truths are only now about to come to light…truth is stranger than fiction, and to hear Piazza say it, this book was inspired a lot by her own family history. It’s a surprisingly lighter read than I expected, in part because of the first person POV’s (though one is much more snarky than the other, as befits her status as a modern Sicilian American.) At some point maybe I should pick up more of Piazza’s books, especially if they’ve got more connections to such a fascinating place as Sicily.

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