Tag Archives: fantasy

Steelflower

Book Review of Steelflower, by Lilith Saintcrow

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SteelflowerI borrowed a copy of Lilith Saintcrow‘s Steelflower from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Picking the wrong pocket can get a girl in trouble…

Thief, assassin, sellsword—Kaia Steelflower is famous. Well, mostly famous, and mostly for the wrong reasons. She’s made a good life for herself, despite being kicked out of her homeland for having no magic. She’s saving up for her retirement, when she can settle down, run an inn, and leave the excitement for others.

Then she picks the wrong pocket, wakes up with a hangover, and gets far more than she bargained for. Now she has a huge, furry barbarian to look after, a princeling from her homeland to fend off, and an old debt to fulfill. And for some reason, the God-Emperor’s assassins want to kill her.

It’s never easy being an elvish sellsword, and this time it just might be fatal…

Review:
I both really enjoyed and found myself quite frustrated with this book. I liked Kaia. I liked the Barbarian. I adored D’ri. I liked the world and the writing. BUT the book never really goes anywhere. They wander around and do this and then that and then something else, but there is no intent in it. Also, while I understood Kaia’s strong reluctance, I got tired of reading it. Worst of all, the hints that all the hardships she’d suffered in her life might have actually been her own fault, based on a misunderstanding that she didn’t seek clarification of over a decade is off-putting to say the least.

Despite all that, I’d read more if there was any, but Saintcrow states that she does not intent to continue the story, as e-piracy killed the series. Which means that this, an incomplete story (though not a cliffie), will always remain so and that makes it kind of a pointless read IMO.

Book Review of The Untold Tale, by J. M. Frey

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The Untold TaleI received a copy of The Untold Tale, by J. M. Frey from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Forsyth Turn is not a hero. Lordling of Turn Hall and Lysse Chipping, yes. Spymaster for the king, certainly. But hero? That’s his older brother’s job, and Kintyre Turn is nothing if not legendary. However, when a raid on the kingdom’s worst criminal results in the rescue of a bafflingly blunt woman, oddly named and even more oddly mannered, Forsyth finds his quaint, sedentary life is turned on its head. 

Dragged reluctantly into a quest he never expected, and fighting villains that even his brother has never managed to best, Forsyth is forced to confront his own self-shame and the demons that come with always being second-best. And, more than that, when he finally realizes where Lucy came from and why she’s here, he’ll be forced to question not only his place in the world, but the very meaning of his own existence. 

The Untold Tale gives agency to the unlikeliest of heroes: the silenced, the marginalized, and the overlooked. It asks what it really means to be a fan when the worlds you love don’t resemble the world you live in, celebrates the power of the written word, challenges tropes, and shows us what happens when someone stands up and refuses to remain a secondary character in their own life.

Review:
I did a lot of flip-flopping while reading this book. I thought it started out well and then I figured out the schtick (twist) and groaned. It’s cheesy, it is, but I got used to it I accepted it and enjoyed the book for a bit. Then, Pip started in on her lectures and I groaned again. I HATE didacticism in my fiction. Hate it, even when I agree with what is being preached. I mean, I love this quote, it verbalizes something I’ve long wanted words for (and it largely sums up the novel),

I spent my whole goddam academic career championing female character agency, fighting against lazy writing that falls back on epic fantasy gender stereotypes and utilizes rape as a back story excuse, against the half-assed conflation of strong female characters with violent female characters, screaming myself horse about visible minorities in fiction and the normalization of queerness, and what does the world I love best go and fucking do the goddamn millisecond I get here? Slaps me in the face and ties me down!

but the book frequently stepped over the line into lectures and I started to twitch a bit. They are no fun and I read fiction for fun.

I adored Forsyth and his fussiness, but thought his internal dialogue got repetitive and old. I hated K & B and then they suddenly showed up all lovely and contrite and I was supposed to forgive and like them; a swift transition I wasn’t quite able to make.

I appreciated the critique of rape of female characters, even the subtextual suggestion that it is frequently presented as consensual, but there was far too much sex. It was gratuitous to the point or plot, serving no further purpose. I liked that Pip had emotions and anger, but it disappeared too quickly. I like that it was him who gave up his life, when it’s usually the female, but disliked everything from that point forward. The book goes on for ever.

I went back and forwards between loving this book and disliking this book again and again. I 100% applaud the author’s intent (which I saw as a feminist critique or subversion if epic fantasy), but I don’t know that I necessarily enjoyed the journey.

Perdu

Book Review of Perdu (Redire de Vampyrus, #1) by Raeden Zen

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PerduI’ve had Perdu (by Raeden Zen) for quite some time, having picked it up from the Amazon free list over two years ago.

Description from Goodreads:
Ruth and Eugene Flowers desired the American dream: two kids, a big house, and a dog. But it wasn’t meant to be–at least not initially. When a surprise package literally fell into their laps, however, the Flowers would finally get their wish (sort of). Soon, it all goes awry, as mysterious deaths followed by a disappearance permanently disrupt their lives. Meanwhile, many years later, a grown-up Valerie Green, a nearby neighbor’s daughter and high-school sweetheart of their son, Zan, hits it huge in the Big Apple, first landing at Columbia University, then at the New York Pioneer, the hottest online periodical in the city. When she is forced to cross the path of hotshot FBI special agent, Dr. Devean Rasr, she doesn’t realize she is also wading much deeper into the biggest, most dangerous, and most challenging killing spree in the history of NYC.

Review:
This book is a mess. There’s no identifiable main character. It has no consistent timeline. Characters make absolutely unfollowable leaps of logic. Clues conveniently pop out of nowhere. The villain is a character that literally isn’t in the novel until the reveal and then isn’t in it after, so a nobody. There are several info-drops, most of which is pointless information that is never utilized. There is constant head hopping. Characters appear and disappear as needed. No one have believable emotions. The dialogue is stilted. The love is unfounded and baseless. Pretty sure I have nothing positive to say about any of it….Ok, it was short and I like the cover.