Review: The World We Make

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even YA isn't immune to the ongoing strange trend of duologies being all the rage, as N.K. Jemisin indicates with her latest novel, her first in almost three full years. This series was initially announced as a trilogy, but it became clear this year that Jemisin was going to end it with the second book, which makes a lot of sense once you've read the acknowledgments at the end of the book. Jemisin was understandably burnt out writing such a series, with its stressful thematic relation to the real world as it grapples with terrible increases in racism, xenophobia, and a general disregard for human life.

Review: Cursed

Cursed by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’d been hoping last year that when I read Gilded that it would prove to just be so much Prolonged Prologue, but this duology conclusion instead just comes across as…plain old Prolonged. I’ve said it many times that I really don’t understand why duologies are such a thing, and they’ve been so absurdly common in YA SFF especially the last five years or so. Credit to Meyer for following g that trend, though, while also sticking with the fairytale retelling trend of the early to mid 10’s. Unfortunately, this time around, it feels so seriously phoned in, full of dull characters and plodding storylines. At least Meyer brings the story to a clear end, but her glory days are behind her at this point, I’m sorry to say. Or maybe the Erlking just isn’t the story for me - it’s not the first time I’ve read a retelling of that particular legend and come away wanting in terms of entertainment. Who knows.

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Review: The Lost Metal

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was late to the party with all the previous Mistborn novels of both eras for a variety of reasons, but I do still appreciate that it was a particularly long wait for this conclusion to Era Two, Wax & Wayne (and Marasi too!) A particularly long wait by any standard, but especially Sanderson’s, given his incredibly prolific nature. But now, as Mistborn reaches its tentative halfway point and we await Era Three to presumably start publishing in 2025, The Lost Metal justifies its long wait in so many ways, and even makes me want to go back and re-read the whole series from the start again. Expanding on the world map of Scadrial for the first time, showing so much more of this rusting land and countries beyond the grand city of Elendel, really hammering home the connections to elsewhere in the Cosmere, and building up to some of the most shatteringly high stakes Sanderson has written yet…suffice it to say that while the Cosmere is far from finished, for this segment, Sanderson absolutely sticks the landing.

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Review: Dead Man's Hand

Dead Man's Hand by James J. Butcher
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I hate to come almost to the end of the year with a terrible review, but I feel like I have no choice with this one. The first in a new urban fantasy series from the son of one of the genre’s most successful authors, this book makes it clear that sadly, James J. Butcher doesn’t come close to shining beyond his father’s shadow. There’s a glimmer of Jim Butcher-style humor and worldbuilding in this book, to ge fair, but the stakes feel lower than the earth’s core compared to the Doom of Damocles and the increasing shenanigans Jim Butcher would always put forth in each book, ever more courts of vampires and fae to go around. I do empathize with James Butcher’s protagonist Grimsby and the abominable job with which he’s saddled, but Grimsby is no Harry Dresden - he lacks charisma and agency, and frankly feels quite pathetic as a protagonist. Couple that with a dull, muddled mystery of a plot, and this book is a disaster all but guaranteeing I won’t be reading much more from Butcher the Younger anytime soon.

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Review: Mistborn: Secret History

Mistborn: Secret History by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this story a while back as part of Arcanum Unbounded, but rereading it now while I'm waiting for The Lost Metal at the library, it's become clear to me that I'm seriously overdue for a complete reread of this section of the Cosmere, right from the beginning. I'm very glad Sanderson got to give this book its own binding, though, because it's got so many key concepts of not only Mistborn to go over, but also the Cosmere in general. At this point, while I'd always recommend The Stormlight Archive, it's clear that a read of the original Mistborn trilogy, immediately followed by this story, will help make the multiverse of the Cosmere make so much more sense to anyone who hasn't set foot in it before. And, hell, to anyone who's been reading these books as much as I have, especially in recent years as I've come to appreciate Sanderson so much more.

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Review: The Kingdom of Liars

The Kingdom of Liars by Nick Martell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this one on the basis of Brandon Sanderson’s recommendation, and especially after seeing Martell himself getting his own table at this year’s Dragonsteel convention in Utah. Mad jelly I am of Mr. Martell getting to go there, and I really, really hope I could get a table of my own there in a future year. Maybe in 2024 or whichever year happens to be the year of Stormlight 5…but I digress.

Review: The Ballad of Never After

The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was under the impression at first that Stephanie Garber was going to write her debut series Caraval as a duology, and then it turned into a trilogy. So it goes again with the second series of Garber’s fantasy realm, which I was expecting to be a duology conclusion last year, but it’s pretty clear with the ending of this book (a particularly mind bending cliffhanger) that we’re getting another trilogy. I think at some point about halfway through, that became clear - as briskly paced and imaginatively detailed as Garber has made it, I was starting to sense that the book wasn’t going to end this particular story, which made me a bit afraid that Garber was going to do another series with steadily diminishing returns the way her first trilogy did. But what advantages this book has, though - namely, much more interesting characters and lore than the first trilogy, and dear sweet Fates above, that ending. It’s still got me scratching my head, and I don’t see that stopping for quite a while. Maybe not until the third book drops…

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