Review: The Relentless Moon

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's been a couple of years since Mary Robinette Kowal put out a novel in this alternate history series of the Lady Astronaut, and a year or so since The Calculating Stars won that Hugo and got my attention onto this series but good. So now, I've finally bought and read a copy of the third book - one that's more of a sequel to Book 1 than Book 2, taking place roughly concurrently with The Fated Sky as promised, and following more early 60s progress on Earth and the Moon in the post-Meteor timeline. This time, our POV character isn't Elma York, but Nicole Wargin, Lady Astronaut and wife of the charismatic Governor of Kansas, who's looking to run for President in 1964. Of course, this being a dangerous post-apocalypse of a solar system, it throws every wrench it can in both their ways. Frequent disastrous mechanical failures of rockets to the Moon, Earth First terrorists stoking riots and trying to blame it on race, continued geological and climatic cataclysms on Earth, a polio outbreak on the Artemis lunar base provoking preventative measures that feel eerily prescient of COVID (which of course struck after Kowal finished writing this book), especially since this alternate timeline doesn't have a polio vaccine as Jonas Salk never finished his work on it. And, in Nicole's case, anorexia, which she's mostly got a handle on, but has caused her some serious long-term health complications that tend to loom large throughout the novel. While a bit on the long side, especially compared to its predecessors, The Relentless Moon is a more than worthy addition to Kowal's Lady Astronaut Universe, helping bridge the gap between the first two books and the upcoming fourth, The Derivative Base, pretty neatly, if I do say so myself.

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Review: Cemetery Boys

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Happy spooky season, friends, with this review of Aiden Thomas's recently National Book Award-nominated debut novel - and while it was supposed to have originally come out three months ago, I'm glad it instead came along on the verge of fall. Helpfully, reading this book now seems to have helped chase away a bit of the Bay Area's smoky skies and heat waves - for now anyway, because climate change and all that. But while Yadriel's brujo powers are more linked to the souls of the dead, I'd be willing to credit him with helping usher in some nicer weather as I read his misadventure about meeting a dead boy whose soul needs to cross over OR ELSE. 

Review: The Lost Book of the White

The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cassie Clare AND Wesley Chu collaborating?



About this guy?



And it's a trilogy?





(I think the above pre-review was written when this title was supposed to be for the first book and not swapped with The Red Scrolls of Magic, but the sentiment still stands.) 

The second book of Alec and Magnus's spinoff series was, sadly, spoiled for many when some damn fool leaked the entire manuscript somewhere. A demon pox on all their house for trying to tank Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu so shamelessly...but given that the book debuted at #1 on the NYT Bestseller List anyway, I'd like to say they failed and Clare and Chu succeeded. And boy, did they succeed. 

Review: The Shadow of Kyoshi

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

F.C. Yee seems to enjoy operating in duologies about kickass, enormously tall Asian girls - whether it's Genie Lo, or Avatar Kyoshi. The second half of Kyoshi's YA adventure picks up with her place as the Avatar assured after it was in doubt for so much of Book 1, but still, there are those who question her title and prowess - an easier question to pose when she's having greater and greater trouble negotiating with world leaders (and navigating the drama in their courts, particularly the royal court of the Fire Nation, where he who is officially the Fire Lord isn't exactly up to the task and everyone knows it) and connecting with her past lives like Kuruk, Yangchen, and Szeto. But at least she's still got her own Team Avatar to stand alongside her with immense loyalty - and love, especially in Rangi's case. Love to stan a bisexual queen, yes we do in this house!

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Review: Paola Santiago and the River of Tears

Paola Santiago and the River of Tears by Tehlor Kay Mejia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not unlike Roshani Chokshi and Aru Shah, Tehlor Kay Mejia is a case of an author whose YA fantasy debut wasn't exactly my fave (sadly I couldn't even finish Chokshi's The Star-Touched Queen to this day, but someday maybe I'll give it a revisit), but I liked her Rick Riordan Presents MG fantasy debut even more. For sure, this Mexican-inspired tale of the terrors wrought by the notorious spirit La Llorona in a small Arizona town - and beyond - feels like a perfect companion to Aru Shah's books in the Rick Riordan Presents lineup. It feels like somewhat of the perfect middle ground between Aru Shah's stories and those of Sal and Gabi as well - it has an Aru-like tone, but Pao is quite the science geek, lover of all things space-related in particular, so on that level, she and Sal would make pretty fast friends. Her and Min from Dragon Pearl as well. Mejia, though, perfectly captures not only the oppressive heat of the Arizona summer, but also the fear of all the elders' old superstitions - and the old ladies' chanclas - permeating every aspect of life for Pao and her neighbor Dante. Especially when one of their closest friends becomes just the latest in a string of mysterious disappearances...boy, is this a wild adventure for the ages, and luckily, Mejia's already working on a sequel!

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Review: Darius the Great Deserves Better

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I almost didn't expect that Adib Khorram would write a second book about Darius the Great, but after the well-deserved acclaim his debut novel got, why the hell not? And so it goes, two years down the line in real time, and months enough that Darius has actually grown up quite a bit. Physically and psychologically. He's not only six foot three, he's also lost some weight from taking up soccer at school - a bit of Sohrab's influence there, am I right? - though he's still pretty self-conscious about having a little more tummy than he'd like. God, that's so relatable. And as for his mental health, he's got a new and improved balance of medication, he's taken several levels in self-confidence, and he's openly gay and has a boyfriend now.

Review: Love, Creekwood

Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Mmmmmmm...I dunno. I mean, Becky Albertalli is just one of those authors with whom my responses to her books have always been up and down, very middling, and typically either rising or nosediving in hindsight. Does that make sense? I dunno. But I just feel like this little novella was trying too hard to be an epilogue to both Simon Vs. and Leah on the Offbeat, and as someone who didn't really like Leah's book all that much - and has absolutely soured on it more and more over time, mostly because Leah is just too abrasive and Tumblr-y for my taste - I really wish this story could've just been a Simon/Bram epilogue instead. Now that, I would've loved to have seen - those two have my heart like no other characters Becky has ever created. But even so, just the way this story was formatted - all emails, and many of them a bunch of email strings within strings - was aggravating to read in ebook format from my local library. Maybe it would've been better off if I'd read it in print - and hey, at least Albertalli made it clear she was donating all the profits for this one to charity. I know a lot of people are kinda down on Albertalli for "writing outside her lane" with Simon, but let's be honest, Simon is the best character she ever wrote, and it shows in the ending he and Bram get. But as far as a follow-up to his story, I think I'm going to be much more enthusiastically following Love, Victor instead.

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