Category Archives: books/book review

must be magic

Book Review of Must Be Magic, by Patricia Rice

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I’m on vacation, slash, visiting my mom. Which means I get to read and write my reviews in the St. Andrew Bay sea breeze. Today I finished Must Be Magic, by Patricia Rice. I borrowed an e-copy from the library before I left home.

Description from Goodreads:

An Explosive Attraction…

Lady Leila Staines has always felt like an outcast among her magically gifted sisters. Desperate to discover her own talent, she seeks out Dunstan Ives, a dark and brooding aristocrat with a scientific bent who may hold the key to unleashing Leila’s hidden powers.

Can Create A Spark That’s Pure Magic…

Dunstan has shunned the decadent society that wrongfully condemned him of murder, and he’s vowed never again to succumb to the spell of a beautiful woman. But the bewitching Lady Leila makes him a proposal no man in his position can resist.

Review:

Generally enjoyable. I appreciated the slightly older couple (a widow and widower), the unusual inclusion of an illegitimate child, and that the female character was given sexual agency throughout. I did find the mystery easy to decipher and thought Dunstam was a little too driven by his lusts (though I did like how he fully owned that he went brainless in the presence of an attractive woman).

This is book two in a series and I was able to read it easily, even without having read book one. I’ll happily read the rest of the series.

Review of Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch #1), by Ann Leckie

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I’m on vacation! Ok, I’m visiting my mom. But since she lives in Florida, it’s like a vacation. Granted, given the Covid-19 numbers here in Florida, we have no intention of leaving this house at any point during the visit. This is no true hardship though. I mean, look where I’m sitting, wrapped in a towel in my swimsuit, to write this review. I could do worse, right?

On the fourteen-hour drive down I read Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. It is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. I’ve heard only good things about, I five-starred the only other book I’ve read by her, and she lives locally to me. (I do try and support local authors.) I even met her briefly in a tea shop once. She was gracious and lovely. So, I finally borrowed a copy from the library.

Description from Goodreads:

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest. Once, she was the Justice of Toren – a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

Review:

I really enjoyed this! It’s smart science fiction, the sort that will have me coming back and contemplating aspects of it for weeks to come. So many questions of identity, individuality, morality, friendship, class, humanity, and loyalty (and probably more).

I love the contemplation of what qualifies as “I” given the reality of ancillaries. I love the quandaries around gender. Pronouns do a lot of work in this book. The book subverts them and makes you really think about them. There were times I felt it got so convoluted that I’m not even sure the author kept it straight. But that was unquestionably part of the point.

It is a slow read and covers literally thousands of years. (It reminded me a little of Asimov in this respect, with Breq filling in for Daneel.) But I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on the rest of the series.

murder on the lake of fire

Book Review of Murder on the Lake of Fire (Mourning Dove Mysteries #1), by Mikel J. Wilson

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I won a copy of Murder on the Lake of Fire through a giveaway the author, Mikel Wilson, ran on Instagram.

Description from Goodreads:

At twenty-three and with a notorious case under his belt, Emory Rome has already garnered fame as a talented special agent for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. His career is leapfrogging over his colleagues, but the jumping stops when he’s assigned a case he fought to avoid – an eerie murder in the Smoky Mountain hometown he had abandoned. The mysterious death of a teen ice-skater once destined for the pros is soon followed by an apparent case of spontaneous human combustion. In a small town bursting with friends and foes, Rome’s own secrets lie just beneath the surface. The rush to find the murderer before he strikes again pits him against artful private investigator Jeff Woodard. The PI is handsome, smart and seductive, and he just might be the killer Rome is seeking.

Review:

I generally enjoyed this. I wasn’t surprised by the conclusion of the mystery in any sense, but I enjoyed the journey of seeing that I was right and I liked both the main characters. I thought very occasionally that names were tossed into dialogue too often and the similes weighed a little heavily at times. But for the most part, I’m glad to have read it and look forward to the next one.

murder on the lake of fire photo murder on the lake of fire signed

Edit: June 10, 2021 — In totally unrelated news, as I hadn’t even started Sadie’s Spotlight yet when I reviewed this book, the series was later promoed on the site.