Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Krtizer

Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Krtizer is the sequel to Catfishing on CatNet, which was an excellent book and I recommend reading it first. The short story "Cat Pictures Please", is also set in the same world and makes a nice introduction to one of the characters, though is not necessary to follow the story in the novels. Furthermore, do not be put of by the very generically US YA cover, the book inside is much more unique than the cover makes it seem.

It takes an AI to catch an AI in Chaos on CatNet, the follow-up to Naomi Kritzer's award-winning near future YA thriller.

When a mysterious entity starts hacking into social networks and chat rooms to instigate paranoia and violence in the real world, it’s up to Steph and her new friend, Nell, to find a way to stop it—with the help of their benevolent AI friend, CheshireCat.

Chaos on CatNet was an excellent read. We return to Steph, CheshireCat the AI, and their human friends, plus some newly introduced characters. Steph is now living (permanently) in Minneapolis and makes a new friend at school. Her new friend just so happens to have recently left a cult, which makes more some unexpectedly interesting and ominous reading.

Overall, Chaos on CatNet had higher stakes than the previous book, and the brewing confrontation was very menacing and disconcerting. I don't want to spoil anything, but I found the rising background tension unnerving and, which I think was the intent. It was still a compelling read, but less fluffy and comforting than Catfishing on CatNet (which had more of an isolated climax).

I enjoyed this book a lot and I would definitely read a sequel if one were forthcoming. This series has made for very unputdownable reading. I highly recommend Chaos on CatNet to fans of Catfishing on CatNet and the series generally to people who are intrigued by the concept of a cat-loving AI befriending a bunch of nerdy teenagers.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: April 2021, Tor Teen
Series: CatNet book 2 of 2 (so far)
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard is a standalone fantasy novella set in a matriarchal society inspired by pre-colonial Vietnam. It's quite short, and I was disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time in it's world.

Fire burns bright and has a long memory….

Quiet, thoughtful princess Thanh was sent away as a hostage to the powerful faraway country of Ephteria as a child. Now she’s returned to her mother’s imperial court, haunted not only by memories of her first romance, but by worrying magical echoes of a fire that devastated Ephteria’s royal palace.

Thanh’s new role as a diplomat places her once again in the path of her first love, the powerful and magnetic Eldris of Ephteria, who knows exactly what she wants: romance from Thanh and much more from Thanh’s home. Eldris won’t take no for an answer, on either front. But the fire that burned down one palace is tempting Thanh with the possibility of making her own dangerous decisions.

Can Thanh find the freedom to shape her country’s fate—and her own?

This was a fun and interesting read, with a reasonable dose of moderate peril. We have the princess Thanh, who is the spare royal child and now in a position to negotiate an alliance between her country and the country she was fostered/hostaged out to when she was younger. She still has not mentally recovered from a fire that she narrowly escaped while she was in the other (Western imperial analogue) country, not least because fire seems to follow her around in a magical way.

The story focusses closely on Thanh and her relationships with her mother, the Queeen, with her friend/lover, the foreign princess, and with the mysterious servant girl with whom she escaped the near-fatal fire. Most of the challenges Thanh faces are social, and I don't want to say too much more and spoil this relatively short read.

I enjoyed this novella a lot. I read it at a time when I wanted something fun and relaxing to read, and this book delivered. I recommend it to fans of asian-inspired fantasy and lesbian romance. If you feel that you would be troubled reading a book with literally zero men in it, this may not be the read for you.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: February 2021, Tor.com
Series: Don't think so
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire is the latest addition the the Wayward Children series. Like several Wayward Children books (but not the most recent few) it stands alone and just follows one child on her journey through a door to another world. You can read it first or last or in between. (If you want a bit more background on the setting, you can check out my review of Every Heart a Doorway, the first Wayward Children book, but it's not necessary to have read it first.)

Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late.

When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to "Be Sure" before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines―a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem…

There are several themes explored in this book. First off, Regan is a horse-loving girl, so it is no surprise she ends up in a world full of magical horse-adjacent creatures like centaurs, unicorns, kelpies, and so forth. The reason she ends up there is a bit less common, from what we've seen in the other Wayward Children books. Regan does not come from an unhappy home, but inadvertently finds herself in a difficult social situation, which is what triggers the door. 

The other really interesting thing about Across the Green Grass Fields is the way in which it subverts the portal fantasy genre. Allusions to Narnia and the Wizard of Oz serve to emphasise how silly the child-as-chosen-hero narrative is. I won't spoil the ending, of course, but I found it extremely satisfying and sensible.

Overall, another excellent read from McGuire. I highly recommend this book to fans of the Wayward Children books and general fans of portal fantasy. As I said at the start, you needn't have read any other books in the series before picking this one up, so it's a perfectly good place to start.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: January 2021, Tor.com
Series: Wayward Children book 6 of 6 so far, but stands alone.
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor is a stand-alone science fantasy novella, set in near future Ghana. It tells the story of a girl who is alone and feared and, for a large part of the story, nomadic.

"She’s the adopted daughter of the Angel of Death. Beware of her. Mind her. Death guards her like one of its own."

The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa­­--a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past.

Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks--alone, except for her fox companion--searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.

But is there a greater purpose for Sankofa, now that Death is her constant companion?

I requested this novella for review because I've enjoyed Okorafor's other work, especially the Binti series of novellas. However, I wasn't sure what to expect, since the blurb makes it sound very different from Binti. After reading, I can say that, it is and it isn't. Fatima/Sankofa undergoes an intensely traumatic event at a young age, leaving her alone. Magic helps keep her safe, physically at least. 

Sankofa's story is not told entirely chronologically, which works very well for this context. I liked the way in which aspects of her life were revealed piece by piece. I also liked the worldbuilding that went into the story. From the shea tree Sankofa climbed as a child to the towns, cities and homes she encounters during her travels, Okorafor paints very clear pictures of the settings. The contrasts between rural and urban settings is especially stark. While Sankofa is in the forest, it is easy to forget that this story is actually set in the future. The advanced technology present in the city is a stark contrast, and reminds us that there is more going on in the background of the story than what we most frequently see from the tight focus on Sankofa.

I really enjoyed this story. I highly recommend it to fans of science fantasy and speculative fiction generally. I'm not usually a fan of science fantasy but this one really worked for me. If you enjoyed Okorafor's other works, especially the Binti series (since I have not yet read any of her longer works, I can't compare those), I highly recommend Remote Control.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: January 2021
Series: No
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo

When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo is a standalone sequel novella to The Empress of Salt and Fortune, which I read and reviewed earlier this year. It features the same cleric seeking stories, but everything else about the book is quite different.

The cleric Chih finds themself and their companions at the mercy of a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. To stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih must unwind the intricate, layered story of the tiger and her scholar lover—a woman of courage, intelligence, and beauty—and discover how truth can survive becoming history.

Nghi Vo returns to the empire of Ahn and The Singing Hills Cycle in this mesmerizing, lush standalone follow-up to The Empress of Salt and Fortune

The framing narrative in this novella ends up being unexpectedly tense. Chih and their escort run into some tigers (the shapeshifter kind) during a mountain crossing. To avoid being eaten, Chih tells them a story. But unlike Scheherazade trying to entertain her audience, Chih's tiger audience scoffs and interjects when they perceive the story to be told wrong and/or with too-human values. It made for a delicate interplay between framing and framed narratives, that kept me interested and turning pages.

The framed narrative is a love story about a scholar and a tiger and all sorts of misfortunes that befall them. The story itself would be interesting enough, but having it deconstructed from a tiger perspective while still being told was excellent. I really enjoyed how this poked holes in the biases of the human story tellers.

I highly recommend When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain to fans of fairytales and asian-inspired fantasy stories. I hope Vo continues writing about scholar Chih or other people in the same world, because I'm really enjoying the collecting of stories and learning about the magical (and non-magical) beings of this world.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: December 2020, Tor.com
Series: The Singing Hills Cycle book 2 of 2 so far (but they stand alone)
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp

Even If We Break by Marieke Nijkamp is a YA thriller about a group of friends, a role-playing game, and a cabin in the woods (up a mountain). It has strong geeky sensibilities (they are, after all, playing an RPG), but is technically non-SFF, though I expect there's be a lot of SFF fans who would enjoy it regardless.

FIVE friends go to a cabin.
FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.


Are you ready to play?

In this novel, a group of friends go on a last getaway to mend bridges and play one last RPG campaign before some of them go off to college. The story is told through alternating points of view, cycling through all five characters. Aside from being geeky, Even if We Break also has very strong disability and trans representation, dealing with characters in a variety of circumstances.

Nijkamp excels at cramming a lot of action into a short space of time, as evidenced by This Is Where It Ends, which is called "54 Minutes" in some translations. Even if We Break is no different. Although the story starts relatively up-beat (aside from the lingering issues the characters are hoping to overcome over the weekend) but quickly become tense as things turn ugly. The five characters all have distinctive voices and I found it easy to keep the different characters straight in my mind.

I recommend Even If We Break to fans of YA thrillers and to people who wished Pretty Little Liars had disability representation and good trans representation. I expect fans of RPGs and LARPs, including readers who don't usually read non-SFF, will still find much to enjoy in reading about the friends' game and the way in which this is linked to the action. I will certainly continue to pick up Nijkamp's books as they come out.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: September 2020, Sourcebooks Fire
Series: No
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

The Four Profound Weaves by RB Lemberg

The Four Profound Weaves by RB Lemberg is a novella set in the author’s Birdverse world. I have previously read at least one story, "Geometries of Belonging", which I quite enjoyed. The different stories stand alone and aside from exploring some similar themes, part of the magic system was what struck me as the main link with respect to world building.

The Surun' do not speak of the master weaver, Benesret, who creates the cloth of bone for assassins in the Great Burri Desert. But Uiziya now seeks her aunt Benesret in order to learn the final weave, although the price for knowledge may be far too dear to pay.

Among the Khana, women travel in caravans to trade, while men remain in the inner quarter as scholars. A nameless man struggles to embody Khana masculinity, after many years of performing the life of a woman, trader, wife, and grandmother.

As the past catches up to the nameless man, he must choose between the life he dreamed of and Uiziya, and Uiziya must discover how to challenge a tyrant, and weave from deaths that matter.

This is a poetically written story about two people searching for themselves in different ways. I'm not sure I can explain the plot any better than the blurb does (which makes for a nice change), so I suggest reading that if you haven't yet. The story alternates between the points of view of the two protagonists, Uiziya and nen-sasaïr, and carries the reader with them across desert and city.

Uiziya's story focuses a bit more on the magic she seeks and the meaning of her aunt's magic in the greater scheme of the world. From a more simplistic understanding, we watch Uiziya's knowledge deepen through the events of the story as she is guided by misapprehensions and revelations. Nen-sasaïr, on the other hand, is guided by a more personal quest. The two team up at first only because their goals partially overlap, though their relationship grows over the course of the story.

From "Geometries of Belonging" the world building thing that stuck in my head most was the concept of magic based on deepnames, unique to the practitioner, the concept of which makes a reappearance in The Four Profound Weaves. However, as the title suggests, the main magic here, which Uiziya is — loosely speaking — chasing, involves weaving and magic carpets. Carpets which can fly, yes, but also carpets which can sing or transform people into their true bodies. The latter being related to the strong trans narrative arc for nen-sasaïr.

Overall I quite enjoyed The Four Profound Weaves. It was a gorgeously written exploration of identity with a heady dose of magic to go with it. I am keen to read more stories set in the Birdverse and other stories by Lemberg as well. I would go seek them out immediately if I wasn't so behind on other review books. I highly recommend The Four Profound Weaves to readers looking for fantasy with any of: desert settings, weaving, or trans narratives.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: Tachyon Publications, September 2020
Series: Birdverse, but I think all the stories so far stand alone
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Riverland by Fran Wilde

Riverland by Fran Wilde is a portal fantasy book for children (aka middle grade). I first encountered it during a reading by the author at Dublin WorldCon last year. This year, I finally got around to picking up Riverland after it was shortlisted for the not-a-Hugo Lodestar Award and hence was included in the Hugo voter's packet.

When things go bad at home, sisters Eleanor and Mike hide in a secret place under Eleanor’s bed, telling monster stories. Often, it seems those stories and their mother’s house magic are all that keep them safe from both busybodies and their dad’s temper. But when their father breaks a family heirloom, a glass witch ball, a river suddenly appears beneath the bed, and Eleanor and Mike fall into a world where dreams are born, nightmares struggle to break into the real world, and secrets have big consequences. Full of both adventure and heart, Riverland is a story about the bond between two sisters and how they must make their own magic to protect each other and save the ones they love.

Riverland is not exactly an easy and relaxing read. It follows twelve-year-old Eleanor and her younger sister Mike, as they deal with an abusive family situation and periodically fall into a fantastical fantasy world made of the river and dreams. The abusive father is the hard part to read, of course, but there is not very much physical violence on the page. Wilde captures the fear, confusion and instability of an emotionally abusive household excellently. I absolutely felt Eleanor's stress as she strived to keep everything just right to avoid bad things happening, and I felt the way she was always kept off-balance by the house rules changing without warning.

The fantastical river world under her bed was where dreams come from and was also caught in a battle to maintain the delicate balance between dreams and nightmares. As well as Eleanor's responsibilities at home — to always do the right thing, to look after her sister and keep her parents happy — she finds herself tasked with fixing the leaks in Riverland; yet another burden. We watch Eleanor try to juggle more balls than a twelve-year-old should ever be expected to, and Wilde transfers some of her fear and tension to the reader.

So as I said, it wasn't a fun, light read, but it was interesting. I liked the fantasy world and I liked the fact that it was somewhere the girls kept revisiting rather than a place they went to and stayed in to have adventures, à la Narnia. And for all that I've emphasised the difficult parts of the book, there were also plenty of hopeful moments, though I don't want to spoil them. The ending was also a good one (though, again, not spoiling).

I highly recommend Riverland to anyone looking for a crunchy children's fantasy book I would probably hand it to slightly older children, because it does deal with some heavy issues. But I expect younger children in similar situation may benefit seeing themselves in the narrative.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2019, Amulet Books
Series: No
Format read: PDF
Source: Hugo Voter Packet

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P Djèlí Clark

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P Djèlí Clark is a Hugo finalist novella this year. That is the main reason I read it. I didn't especially love the author's earlier novella, The Black God's Drums, and probably would have otherwise overlooked this one.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark's short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane. Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. What starts off as a simple matter of exorcism, however, becomes more complicated as the origins of the demon inside are revealed.

In this story, a couple of public servants are tasked with fixing the problem of a haunted tram car in an alternate-world Cairo. Hijinks ensue. In this world, djinn exist and have helped cement Cairo and Egypt's significance on the world stage, including from a technological standpoint. (The steampunky cover is a pretty good representation of the setting, in my opinion.) Our put-upon agents have to contend with identifying the possibly dangerous being possessing the tram and then have to safely remove it. And all this is set against the backdrop of a Cairo-centred campaign to give women the vote.

I really enjoyed this novella. It was entertaining and fairly amusing the whole way through. Even though I read it in lots of small chunks, I didn't have any difficulty getting back into the story when I picked it up again. I don't think I've read any other stories set in the same world, but now that I know they exist I will keep an eye out. (I have already added "A Dead Djinn in Cairo" to my Pocket reading list, which is actually the only other story I found. If you know of others, please let me know in the comments.)

I highly recommend this novella to fans of gas lamp fantasy and alternate (fantastical) history. Especially if non-European/US settings are a draw. This novella was a great read and, for me, caps off a difficult-to-judge Hugo category.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: Tor.com, 2019
Series: Yes, other stories set in the same world exist.
Format read: ePub
Source: Hugo voter packet

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz is a time-travelling science fiction novel. I picked it up based on the promise that there would be both time travel and lesbians, though it turned out to be more diverse than just that description implies.

1992: After a confrontation at a riot grrl concert, seventeen-year-old Beth finds herself in a car with her friend's abusive boyfriend dead in the backseat, agreeing to help her friends hide the body. This murder sets Beth and her friends on a path of escalating violence and vengeance as they realize many other young women in the world need protecting too.

2022: Determined to use time travel to create a safer future, Tess has dedicated her life to visiting key moments in history and fighting for change. But rewriting the timeline isn’t as simple as editing one person or event. And just when Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit that actually sticks, she encounters a group of dangerous travelers bent on stopping her at any cost.

Tess and Beth’s lives intertwine as war breaks out across the timeline--a war that threatens to destroy time travel and leave only a small group of elites with the power to shape the past, present, and future. Against the vast and intricate forces of history and humanity, is it possible for a single person’s actions to echo throughout the timeline?

I am still internally screaming about something in this book I can't even talk about here because it is a massive spoiler.
😱 😱 😱
OK, I found some people to talk it over with, so that's out of my system now. Moving on to the actual review.

As you might expect from a book about time travel, there are a couple of story threads in this book, though they get a little more tangled up than non-time travelling flashback sequences tend to. We have Tess, who is from the near future and working with a secret feminist cabal to stop misogynists from editing women's rights out of the timeline (loosely speaking). She travels to various times, with a particular focus on 1892-3 with regards to her research and secret mission. And then in the 1990s we have some punk rock teenage girls living their slightly crappy lives and going to gigs, as seen through the eyes of Beth, one of the teens.

The 1990s storyline serves to highlight the differences between the starting timeline and the parallel world that we, the readers, live in. It also sets up a background for Tess and people like her, especially when Tess starts trying to change her past by illegally travelling to the 1990s. This is tangentially related to my internal screaming above.

But the overarching story is about fighting for rights and the methods by which history is made/changed. An ongoing debate in the book concerns the efficacy of collective action vs the Great Man theory; whether history can be changed incrementally and/or whether killing Hitler actually does anyone any good. But this is more a book about the characters, mostly women, looking out for each other, no matter the time period. If that's your jam, then this may well be the book for you.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Some parts of it took my by surprise and there was more violence than I expecting going in, but it was violence born out of the anger of the oppressed as much as anything else, and the book was very much in conversation with the justification, or not, of some forms of violence. While there might be a bit of a squick factor associated with some of the violence, I thought it was explored thoughtfully in the book as a whole.

I highly recommend The Future of Another Timeline to fans of time travel and/or feminism. This is the first thing I've read by Annalee Newitz and I am interested in picking up more of their work in the future.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2019, Tor Books
Series: No
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Kobo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is a standalone novella set in a fantasy-tinged world based on imperial China. I picked it up because the blurb seemed interesting and also because it was a novella.

A young royal from the far north, is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.

Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.

This story is told in two timelines: a framing narrative set in the "present", in which a cleric, Chih, is investigating the titular Empress, and a series of flashbacks as Rabbit tells Chih about slices of her life with the Empress. As we gradually learn throughout the story, the Empress was pretty awesome, as were the people she chose to associate with. I liked the way in which the story was revealed in discrete chunks that furthered our understanding of the underlying story and the worldbuilding.

Honestly, the only negative thing I have to say about this novella is that I read it during the initial intensifying part of the pandemic (for where I'm living) and as a result I found it very hard to concentrate on it properly. I am pretty sure this wasn't the book's fault, since I very much enjoyed it when I was able to focus on it better. I think this will be one I'll have to reread at some point in the future. I feel confident that I'll enjoy it even more the second time around, for spotting the foreshadowing as well as my improved concentration.

I recommend The Empress of Salt and Fortune to readers who enjoy intrigue but don't feel like reading an entire epic fantasy trilogy for their fix. Also to readers who enjoy Chinese-inspired fantasy settings and/or framing narratives and/or are excited by the idea of war mammoths. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Vo's future work.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: March 2020, Tor.com
Series: No
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

The Prisoner of Limnos by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Prisoner of Limnos by Lois McMaster Bujold is another Penric and Desdemona novella, this time directly following on from Mira's Last Dance. This review and the blurb contains minor spoilers for Mira's Last Dance and possibly also Penric's Mission, which is the start of this little subgroup of novellas.

In this sequel novella to “Mira’s Last Dance”, Temple sorcerer Penric and the widow Nikys have reached safety in the duchy of Orbas when a secret letter from a friend brings frightening news: Nikys’s mother has been taken hostage by her brother’s enemies at the Cedonian imperial court, and confined in a precarious island sanctuary.

Their own romance still unresolved, Nikys, Penric, and of course Desdemona must infiltrate the hostile country once more, finding along the way that family relationships can be as unexpectedly challenging as any rescue scheme

This was another fun read. I enjoyed the story, which sees Penric hatching an elaborate rescue mission to rescue Nikys's mother, while continuing to woo Nikys. The point of view switches between Penric and Nikys, so we get some interesting scenes between Nikys and her mother, as well as the usual conversations between Penric and Desdemona (also a great scene between Nikys and Desdemona).

Overall, this was a fun read and pretty much the sort of thing I've come to expect from Penric novellas. I don't especially recommend this as a starting point to the series, though I think it works better that way than Mira's Last Dance did. My general recommendation from my previous review stands: I recommend reading Penric's Mission and Mira's Last Dance before The Prisoner of Limnos, and probably also Penric's Demon to introduce Penric and Desdemona's unique relationship. There's still one more novella I haven't read, which I plan to get to at some point soon, and hopefully more to come in the future.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2017, Self-published
Series: Penric & Desdemona book 6 of 7 in publication order
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Apple Books

Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold is a Penric and Desdemona novella set in the World of the Five Gods. It is a direct sequel to Penric's Mission, which I have previously read and reviewed, and hence the blurb below contains spoilers for that earlier story.

In this sequel to the novella “Penric’s Mission”, the injured Penric, a Temple sorcerer and learned divine, tries to guide the betrayed General Arisaydia and his widowed sister Nikys across the last hundred miles of hostile Cedonia to safety in the Duchy of Orbas. In the town of Sosie the fugitive party encounters unexpected delays, and even more unexpected opportunities and hazards, as the courtesan Mira of Adria, one of the ten dead women whose imprints make up the personality of the chaos demon Desdemona, comes to the fore with her own special expertise.

I bought Mira's Last Dance during a book slump and devoured it in less than 24 hours. Since it has been more than two years since I read the immediate prequel, Penric's Mission, it took me a little while to remember who the persisting side characters were. But it came back to me soon enough and the book was an entertaining read even before that. I do, generally speaking, recommend reading Penric's Mission before Mira's Last Dance, and probably also Penric's Demon, which sets up the whole concept of the novella series. However, you do not need to have read any of the novels in the World of the Five Gods — indeed, I haven't and I've been enjoying the Penric and Desdemona books just fine.

In this story, we see Penric escorting/delivering the two people we met in the previous novella to the city they were trying to reach. Of course, they run into troubles along the way, the most memorable of which requires Penric to call on the skills of one of Desdemona's previous possessed humans, Mira. Hence the title.

Mira's Last Dance was entertaining, a bit introspective and overall a good diversion. I recommend it to fans of Bujold's work and the other Penric and Desdemona books, with the prequel-reading caveat above. I plan to pick up the direct sequel, The Prisoner of Limnos, immediately.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: Self-published, 2017
Series: Penric and Desdemona book 4 in publication order, but 5 in current chronological order, of 7 so far
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased through Apple Books

FINNA by Nino Cipri

FINNA by Nino Cipri is an amusing novella set in a thinly veiled Ikea store in the US. It features wormholes to parallel universes, and two employees who recently broke up and have not yet worked through the awkward post-breakup period.

When an elderly customer at a big box furniture store slips through a portal to another dimension, it’s up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company’s bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but our two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago.

Can friendship blossom from the ashes of a relationship? In infinite dimensions, all things are possible.

I really enjoyed FINNA. As is my habit, I had forgotten what it was about (aside from thinking that it was vaguely Scandinavian which it was, emphasis on the vaguely). The opening of the book sets the scene with a focus on the protagonist’s general misery from her retail job and more specific misery from her recent breakup. It gave me just enough time to wonder what the speculative fiction element was going to be before introducing the wormholes. Then it turned into a fun and slightly absurd adventure story as Ava and Jules are forced to go on a rescue mission.

Since this is a relatively short read, I'm not sure there's very much more I can say without skirting spoilers, so I will leave you with one final opinion. I really liked that this wasn't a romance story. Ava and Jules were a couple, now they're not and the story arc is absolutely not about them getting back together. I'm not sure I've come across this as a central focus of a spec fic book before. I highly approve of the depiction of healthy non-romantic relationships in books.

I highly recommend FINNA if you enjoy universe hopping and/or slightly absurd science fiction. Or if you hate Ikea (personally, I don't get the Ikea hate, but whatever). I will certainly be keeping an eye on other books and stories I come across by Cipri.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: February 2020, Tor.com (coming 25/2)
Series: I don't think so
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis

Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis is the latest instalment in the Harwood Spellbook series of novellas. I have previously read and reviewed Snowspelled, Thornbound, and Spellswept (in the Underwater Ballroom Society anthology). Aside from some references to earlier events and maybe a bit of world building, Moontangled can be enjoyed without having read the previous novellas. However, I recommend reading at least Thornbound first for a bit of context and to avoid being spoiled for that story if you come to read it later.

For just one moonlit, memorable night, Thornfell College of Magic has flung open its doors, inviting guests from around the nation to an outdoor ball intended to introduce the first-ever class of women magicians to society...but one magician and one invited guest have far more pressing goals of their own for the night.

Quietly brilliant Juliana Banks is determined to win back the affections of her secret fiancée, rising politician Caroline Fennell, who has become inexplicably distant. If Juliana needs to use magic to get her stubborn fiancée to pay her attention...well, then, as the top student in her class, she is more than ready to take on that challenge!

Unbeknownst to Juliana, though, Caroline plans to nobly sacrifice their betrothal for Juliana's own sake - and no one has ever accused iron-willed Caroline Fennell of being easy to deter from any goal.

Their path to mutual happiness may seem tangled beyond repair...but when they enter the fey-ruled woods that border Thornfell College, these two determined women will find all of their plans upended in a night of unexpected and magical possibilities.

Moontangled is a short novella and an enjoyable one. It’s about Caroline and Juliana, who were side characters in some of the earlier stories. Given their own story at last, we get a more detailed look at their relationship. There are some ramifications of the events in Thornbound, magic, and a satisfying resolution.

My only criticism is that I finished it quickly and couldn’t spend longer enjoying it. I recommend Moontangled if you’ve enjoyed any of the earlier Harwood Spellbook novellas and especially if you thought more attention should be paid to the recurring f/f couple. I look forward to Burgis’s next instalment.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: February 2020, self-published
Series: The Harwood Spellbook, book 2.5 out of 4 (of which only two have integer numbers)
Format read: ePub
Source: Review copy from author

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire is the latest novella in the ongoing Wayward Children series. It’s another ensemble story, but as you can probably guess from the title, the story is mostly about Jack (and to a lesser degree, her sister Jill). While I have enjoyed all of the Wayward Children books, only a couple of the prequels are needed, in my opinion, to enjoy and make sense of Come Tumbling Down. The first Wayward Children novella, Every Heart A Doorway, can be thought of a direct prequel to Come Tumbling Down, and Down Among the Sticks and Bones is a prequel to both, giving the origin story of Jack and Jill. The other novellas are great and provide background on the side characters in Come Tumbling Down, but aren't as essential to following the story.

When Jack left Eleanor West's School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister--whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice--back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West's "No Quests" rule is about to be broken.

Again.

This was a pretty dark story. But that's true of this entire series, so if you've come this far (even if you only read the prequels to this book), you should have some idea of what to expect. Come Tumbling Down engages more directly with what it means to be a monster and about becoming monstrous. As the blurb suggests, there is also a quest, which a band of heroes sets out on. Although Jack's story is the most central in this book, I enjoyed the way in which the narrative jumped around to follow different characters as they stepped into or out of the action. It was Jack's book, but Christopher and Kade and Cora and Sumi were important parts of it, and they all had a little bit of character development.

It seems that this marks the end of Jack's story (for now, anyway), which seems fitting after playing a central role in three books. I have enjoyed the story of Jack and Jill, and I have also enjoyed the ensemble cast nature of this book (and also Beneath the Sugar Sky). Honestly, I will be happy to read either type of story (ensemble or single character focussed) set in the world of the Wayward Children.

If you haven't read any Wayward Children books, I highly recommend them. In particular, I suggest starting with Every Heart A Doorway, both because it's the first book written and also because it's where we first meet Jack and Jill. It's not that Come Tumbling Down doesn't work standing alone... but I don't think it would be as enjoyable without at least some background on the characters and world building.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: January 2020, Tor.com
Series: The Wayward Children book 5 of 5 so far (ongoing series)
Format read: ePub
Source: Publisher via NetGalley and also purchased from Apple Books

Daughter of Lies and Ruin by Jo Spurrier

Daughter of Lies and Ruin by Jo Spurrier is the second book in the Tales of the Blackbone Witches, following on (in an episodic way) from A Curse of Ash and Embers, which I previously reviewed and which introduces the main characters. Although the second book follows on from the first, the stories in both are entirely self-contained.

There's something strange brewing in this tinder-dry forest - a girl with a sword and a secret, a troupe of vicious bandits vanished without a trace, beasts that don't belong and a witch with a macabre plan.

Elodie hasn't been learning witchcraft for long, but she knows enough to be worried, and the fact that her mentor Aleida wants to pack up and leave in short order isn't helping to settle her nerves.

Elodie just hopes to get everyone out of this mess unharmed, but it's looking more unlikely with every passing hour. And when the strange witch's ire falls on her, Aleida's wrath sparks a fire that threatens to scorch the earth itself ...

In Daughter of Lies and Ruin we see Dee and Aleida on the road, tending to some business in another region, when they start noticing strange magical things happening around them. When Aleida says they shouldn't get involved... well what stories would there be if protagonists could ignore trouble when they stumbled upon it?

In this book the dynamic between Dee and Aleida is very different to the first book. They are no longer getting to know each other and have fallen into a stable teacher-apprentice relationship, wherein both characters influence the other. So while Aleida teaches Dee magic, it's also nice to see Dee's empathy starting to rub off (a tiny bit) on Aleida. I also appreciated the aspect of magical worldbuilding whereby different witches have different strengths and Dee does not have the same strengths as her teacher so can't necessarily be taught directly in all forms of magic.

And then there's the new characters we meet in this book. We get another spunky teenaged girl, but one who is spunky in a different way to Dee (and introduces her to the concept of trousers on women), there's a surprising number of bandits, and an antagonist who isn't even doing it out of malice. I won't say more for fear of spoiling too much, but the combination made for an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed Daughter of Lies and Ruin and I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first book or who enjoys epic fantasy. I believe this series is being marketed as YA, however, although the protagonist is sixteen, it feels more like a BFF (big fat fantasy) book to me than a YA book (lengthwise it's probably somewhere between BFF and YA). Jo Spurrier continues to be one of my favourite Aussie fantasy writers, and I will continue buying every book she writes.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2019, Harper Voyager
Series: Tales of the Blackbone Witches book 2 of ?
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Kobo

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee is a space fantasy book aimed at younger readers. It's the first in a series and is entirely unrelated to Yoon Ha Lee's other books, which are adult science fiction. I don't generally read much middle grade, but I picked this one up mainly because of the author. I'd say its also at the older end of the category: the protagonist is thirteen years old, but spends much of the book pretending to be sixteen, so there is a bit of a YA feel to it as well.

THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD MIN comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you'd never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times.

Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.

Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.

Dragon Pearl follows Min as she sets out on an illicit adventure to find out what really happened to her brother. She sets off with almost nothing other than her fox-based shape-shifting magic and magical Charm, and finds herself very far away from her home planet. It was a fun space adventure involving morally ambiguous adults, new friends and dangerous situations. I enjoyed it a lot and I look forward to any sequels that may be forthcoming. Although the story is quite self-contained, it sets up a possible series and I definitely want to read those other stories.

As well as not being a big middle-grade reader, I also tend to steer away from space fantasy books, having been burned a few times before. To be honest, I wasn't sure how strong the fantasy element would be before I started reading, but I was assuming it would mostly be science fiction. It is set on other planets and in space, so it's science fiction if that's your definition of it. But the world building is very deeply steeped in Korean folklore and the associated magic. The story very prominently involves shapeshifting supernaturals and ghosts, and the titular pearl is a magical terraforming device. This worldbuilding worked for me very well. It felt very consistent — perhaps because it's directly based on real mythology rather than being entirely fictional. (I am trying very hard not to name the authors that previously ruined magic in space for me, can you tell?)

I highly recommend Dragon Pearl to fans of science fiction and fantasy, especially space adventures. Readers who are already fans of Korean folklore, or just want to learn more about it, will also find much to like here. I hope I will have the opportunity to give this book to my niece before she outgrows it.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: January 2019,  Rick Riordan Presents (Disney)
Series: book 1 of ? (I thought I saw the second book announced, but I am failing to find any info right now)
Format read: ePub
Source: Purchased from Kobo store

Keep Calm and Kill the Chef by Tansy Rayner Roberts

Keep Calm and Kill the Chef by Livia Day is the third book in the Café La Femme series of cosy culinary crime novels. Chronologically, it follows on from A Trifle Dead and Drowned Vanilla, but in practice you don’t have to have read the earlier books to follow this one.

Scones, tea, and a stabbing…

When Tabitha Darling entered Cafe La Femme in a reality TV show hosted by an infamous “bad boy” Chef, she never expected to be a suspect in his murder.

When Xanthippe Carides quit working in a cafe to become a private detective, she never expected one of her first cases would be keeping Tabitha out of jail…

These two friends have a mystery to solve, and only one of them is telling the whole truth.

Keep Calm and Kill the Chef is told from two points of view and two timelines: we get Tabitha's point of view from before the murder and Xanthippe's from after the murder. Since Tabitha is a potential suspect in the eyes of some of the police (though otherwise a sympathetic character), and Xanthippe is investigating the murder, this sets up an interesting dynamic, especially since they're best friends. I also enjoyed the way in which this setup conveyed information to the reader — in pieces from both ends of the timeline.

Because the plot of this book is centred around a reality TV cooking competition show, there are more descriptions of ridiculous food (for various definitions of ridiculous) than the previous books in the series, and fewer descriptions of more realistic foods. This worked better for me personally since I have a lot of food problems and descriptions of delicious desserts I can't eat were less fun for me than descriptions of ridiculous desserts that most people won't get the opportunity to eat. What kind of ridiculous? Well let's just say the cover is only the half of it.

I don't usually read crime or mystery books, but I like this series for its light-heartedness (most of the time) and the geekiness of the characters. If you enjoy cosy crime books, particularly those set in locations less frequently seen in fiction (Hobart, in this case) and especially if you liked the earlier books in the series, I highly recommend Keep Calm and Kill the Chef.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: September 2019, Twelfth Planet Press
Series: Cafe La Femme, book 3 of 3 (so far...)
Format read: ePub
Source: Bought as a Kickstarter add-on
Disclaimer: The author is a friend, but I have endeavoured to write an impartial review

Chasing the Shadows by Maria V Snyder

Chasing the Shadows by Maria V Snyder is the second book in the Sentinels of the Galaxy (I assume) trilogy. I have previously read and reviewed the first book, Navigating the Stars, of this YA SF series. It is the kind of series I discourage reading out of order. Also, the blurb below contains spoilers for the first book.

Year 2522. Lyra Daniels is dead. Okay, so I only died for sixty-six seconds. But when I came back to life, I got a brand new name and a snazzy new uniform. Go me! Seriously, though, it's very important that Lyra Daniels stays dead, at least as far as my ex-friend Jarren, the murdering looter, knows.

While dying is the scariest thing that's happened to me, it morphed my worming skills. I can manipulate the Q-net like never before. But Jarren has blocked us from communicating with the rest of the galaxy and now they believe we've gone silent, like Planet Xinji (where silent really means dead).

A Protector Class spaceship is coming to our rescue, but we still have to survive almost two years before they arrive - if they arrive at all. Until then, we have to figure out how to stop an unstoppable alien threat. And it's only a matter of time before Jarren learns I'm not dead and returns to finish what he started.

There's no way I'm going to let Jarren win. Instead I'll do whatever it takes to save the people I love. But even I'm running out of ideas...

Chasing the Shadows picks up not long after Navigating the Stars left off. Our protagonist, Ara, is now training as part of the security team and the planet Yulin is still cut off from the rest of humanity and still under threat from violent raiders. Ara's job is to learn to spar and shoot, get her fitness up and, most crucially, find a way to communicate with the outside world.

What I enjoyed most about the first book is still present here — interesting worldbuilding and an interesting mystery surrounding the terracotta warriors which have been left on planets throughout the galaxy. We get to learn more about the warriors in Chasing the Shadows, which I enjoyed. That and Ara's explorations of the Q-net (magic quantum internet) were the most interesting. I was less invested in her relationship, which is well-established now and not a significant source of drama. There's nothing wrong with the relationship, per se, I just felt like the bouts of making out were slowing down the story a bit.

I wouldn't be me if I didn't comment on the physics in this, a science fiction novel. It's mostly fine. There was one bit where a basic (high school-level) explanation was not at all up to scratch but, a little confusingly, the implementation of the information was OK. So overall, only one short section annoyed me, which I'll call a win.

I enjoyed Chasing the Shadows and I'm looking forward to reading the next book when it comes out, presumably next year. There's a few fun reveals throughout the latter part of this book, which promise for a high stakes conclusion to the story. I recommend the Sentinels of the Galaxy series to fans of science fiction and YA.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: November 2019, Harlequin YA (AU)
Series: Sentinels of the Galaxy, book 2 of (I'm guessing) 3
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley