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Hi all. I hope you are safe. I have two young teens about to go out of their skins, and it's day 2 of full lockdown, but of course it could be much, much worse.
Justina Ireland, Vengeance Bound: Earlier work; protagonist is possessed by the Furies and has to kill sinning men to avoid losing control. Only problem: the Furies think all men are sinners worthy of death. When she tries to finish high school while searching for the doctor who drugged her to insensibility a few years back, she falls in love with a boy, which is a complication. Clunky—good premise but not fully sutured.
Justina Ireland, The Deathless Divide: I’m sad that I found this sequel much less compelling than the first book, mostly because the characters talk like 2020-era people (“in my feelings”) and adding another narrator doesn’t help. The actual events are eventful, with further running from the dead and questions about whether the zombie vaccine might actually work.
Tanya Huff, The Quartered Sea: Huff is hit or miss for me, and I think it’s because her Id Vortex is located somewhere very different from mine. Benedikt is a bard of Shkoder who can only sing water, not the other elements, but he’s better than anyone else at water. Still, he’s super insecure about it, and when an exploratory trip beyond the known waters goes wrong, he becomes essentially a slave in a foreign land. His passivity was annoying to me, but there are heroics and last-minute rescues if you like that part.
Genevieve Cogman, The Secret Chapter: Our heroine has to go to a moderately high-Chaos world to help a dangerous fae with a dangerous heist in order to save a world that means a lot to her. Many shenanigans follow, including insights into the secrets of the dragons. Tootling along fine!
Kate Racculia, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts: A grown-up Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Tuesday Mooney is a researcher for the donation arm of a hospital when she encounters Archie, the scion of Boston’s wealthiest family, and finds him annoyingly sexy. Also, the elderly and wealthy Vincent Pryce, with whom Archie has a strange connection, dies and sets off a treasure hunt for his exotic and perhaps extremely valuable collection. Friendship, shenanigans, and only a slight bit of mortal danger follow, while all the while Tuesday is hearing commentary from her best friend—who disappeared, never to be heard from again, when they were both sixteen. It’s weird and sentimental and I ultimately liked it even though I could see thinking it fell over the edge into twee.
Tobias S. Buckell, The Vault: Jane helps her mothers run a downmarket inn near the spaceport. When a rigger—heavily altered so that he can fly spaceships—comes to stay, he tempts Jane with the implants that her mothers have denied her, that would let her see the digital world and run the inn without touching the machines. But his gifts have a price, and she’s quickly caught up in a deadly battle between contenders seeking the secrets of a lost AI. OK.
Christa Faust, Money Shot: Angel Dare is a former porn star, now manager of a stable of exotic dancers, when a friend’s betrayal puts her in mortal danger. She’s beaten, raped (the account has no physical details but is still very visceral), and left for dead. Then she’s blamed for her friend’s murder, so now she’s on the run as well. Her few allies include the security guard she uses to protect her dancers, who helps her investigate what really happened and get revenge. Appropriately part of the Hard Case crime series.
T. Kingfisher, Summer in Orcus: Summer, a 12-year-old girl whose mother is so anxious that she doesn’t let Summer do anything interesting, encounters Baba Yaga behind her house one day, and Baba Yaga gives her her heart’s desire. This turns out to mean an adventure in the world of Orcus, where there are shapeshifters (including a were-house, which is not just a pun) and talking animals and hoopoes in waistcoats. Also, the great magics are dying, rotting from within, and it seems to have something to do with the Queen-in-chains, but no one knows who or what she is. Summer isn’t a hero, but she is kind, and that turns out to be the necessary skill.
T. Kingfisher, Nine Goblins: Nine goblins rush a wizard on a battlefield and end up behind human/elf lines, trying to survive. This is difficult given the two rookies, one goblin who can’t keep his fingers out of other body parts, and one who only talks to the stuffed bear who lives on his helmet (it’s been a long war). They encounter an elf who really, really likes animals, and then they encounter something more dangerous. Pretty clever and sweet, really.
T. Kingfisher, Minor Mage: Oliver is a minor mage; he’s twelve, and he only knows three spells, one of which treats his allergies. But he’s the only mage in his village, and they send him to the mountains to deal with the drought that’s destroying the farms. He encounters monsters, human and otherwise, and deals with them with the help of his armadillo familiar. Again, clever and sweet.
T. Kingfisher, The Raven and the Reindeer: Retelling of The Snow Queen in which Greta sets out to rescue Kay but falls in love with a bandit girl along the way—as well as being held captive by a witch and turned into a reindeer (with her own permission). It’s a nice variant and it doesn’t require Kay’s icy heart to be melted by the love of a good girl.
T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones: Mouse comes down to North Carolina to clean out her grandmother’s hoarder house, but discovers that her step-grandfather left a mystery, possibly having to do with the creepy stone behind the house. Uncanniness ensues. OK, but a little extended for “horror happened but mostly I didn’t understand what was going on.”
T. Kingfisher, Paladin’s Grace: He’s a paladin whose god died, sending him and his brothers and sisters beserk. Now the survivors work for the Temple of the Rat, trying to make up for what they did when they lost control. She’s a perfumer whose best friend is a spy who gets caught up in some nasty business, including beheadings and poisonings. They meet cute—she’s on the run from the witchburners and they pretend to have sex to throw the witchburners off her trail—and then get serious, despite his fear of losing control again and her fear of trusting another man, ever, after what her husband did to her. It’s got a lot more repetitive angsting than I usually like for my original fic, but I like the general worldbuilding and it’s good to know there will be more (and I hope more gnoles).
Justina Ireland, Vengeance Bound: Earlier work; protagonist is possessed by the Furies and has to kill sinning men to avoid losing control. Only problem: the Furies think all men are sinners worthy of death. When she tries to finish high school while searching for the doctor who drugged her to insensibility a few years back, she falls in love with a boy, which is a complication. Clunky—good premise but not fully sutured.
Justina Ireland, The Deathless Divide: I’m sad that I found this sequel much less compelling than the first book, mostly because the characters talk like 2020-era people (“in my feelings”) and adding another narrator doesn’t help. The actual events are eventful, with further running from the dead and questions about whether the zombie vaccine might actually work.
Tanya Huff, The Quartered Sea: Huff is hit or miss for me, and I think it’s because her Id Vortex is located somewhere very different from mine. Benedikt is a bard of Shkoder who can only sing water, not the other elements, but he’s better than anyone else at water. Still, he’s super insecure about it, and when an exploratory trip beyond the known waters goes wrong, he becomes essentially a slave in a foreign land. His passivity was annoying to me, but there are heroics and last-minute rescues if you like that part.
Genevieve Cogman, The Secret Chapter: Our heroine has to go to a moderately high-Chaos world to help a dangerous fae with a dangerous heist in order to save a world that means a lot to her. Many shenanigans follow, including insights into the secrets of the dragons. Tootling along fine!
Kate Racculia, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts: A grown-up Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler: Tuesday Mooney is a researcher for the donation arm of a hospital when she encounters Archie, the scion of Boston’s wealthiest family, and finds him annoyingly sexy. Also, the elderly and wealthy Vincent Pryce, with whom Archie has a strange connection, dies and sets off a treasure hunt for his exotic and perhaps extremely valuable collection. Friendship, shenanigans, and only a slight bit of mortal danger follow, while all the while Tuesday is hearing commentary from her best friend—who disappeared, never to be heard from again, when they were both sixteen. It’s weird and sentimental and I ultimately liked it even though I could see thinking it fell over the edge into twee.
Tobias S. Buckell, The Vault: Jane helps her mothers run a downmarket inn near the spaceport. When a rigger—heavily altered so that he can fly spaceships—comes to stay, he tempts Jane with the implants that her mothers have denied her, that would let her see the digital world and run the inn without touching the machines. But his gifts have a price, and she’s quickly caught up in a deadly battle between contenders seeking the secrets of a lost AI. OK.
Christa Faust, Money Shot: Angel Dare is a former porn star, now manager of a stable of exotic dancers, when a friend’s betrayal puts her in mortal danger. She’s beaten, raped (the account has no physical details but is still very visceral), and left for dead. Then she’s blamed for her friend’s murder, so now she’s on the run as well. Her few allies include the security guard she uses to protect her dancers, who helps her investigate what really happened and get revenge. Appropriately part of the Hard Case crime series.
T. Kingfisher, Summer in Orcus: Summer, a 12-year-old girl whose mother is so anxious that she doesn’t let Summer do anything interesting, encounters Baba Yaga behind her house one day, and Baba Yaga gives her her heart’s desire. This turns out to mean an adventure in the world of Orcus, where there are shapeshifters (including a were-house, which is not just a pun) and talking animals and hoopoes in waistcoats. Also, the great magics are dying, rotting from within, and it seems to have something to do with the Queen-in-chains, but no one knows who or what she is. Summer isn’t a hero, but she is kind, and that turns out to be the necessary skill.
T. Kingfisher, Nine Goblins: Nine goblins rush a wizard on a battlefield and end up behind human/elf lines, trying to survive. This is difficult given the two rookies, one goblin who can’t keep his fingers out of other body parts, and one who only talks to the stuffed bear who lives on his helmet (it’s been a long war). They encounter an elf who really, really likes animals, and then they encounter something more dangerous. Pretty clever and sweet, really.
T. Kingfisher, Minor Mage: Oliver is a minor mage; he’s twelve, and he only knows three spells, one of which treats his allergies. But he’s the only mage in his village, and they send him to the mountains to deal with the drought that’s destroying the farms. He encounters monsters, human and otherwise, and deals with them with the help of his armadillo familiar. Again, clever and sweet.
T. Kingfisher, The Raven and the Reindeer: Retelling of The Snow Queen in which Greta sets out to rescue Kay but falls in love with a bandit girl along the way—as well as being held captive by a witch and turned into a reindeer (with her own permission). It’s a nice variant and it doesn’t require Kay’s icy heart to be melted by the love of a good girl.
T. Kingfisher, The Twisted Ones: Mouse comes down to North Carolina to clean out her grandmother’s hoarder house, but discovers that her step-grandfather left a mystery, possibly having to do with the creepy stone behind the house. Uncanniness ensues. OK, but a little extended for “horror happened but mostly I didn’t understand what was going on.”
T. Kingfisher, Paladin’s Grace: He’s a paladin whose god died, sending him and his brothers and sisters beserk. Now the survivors work for the Temple of the Rat, trying to make up for what they did when they lost control. She’s a perfumer whose best friend is a spy who gets caught up in some nasty business, including beheadings and poisonings. They meet cute—she’s on the run from the witchburners and they pretend to have sex to throw the witchburners off her trail—and then get serious, despite his fear of losing control again and her fear of trusting another man, ever, after what her husband did to her. It’s got a lot more repetitive angsting than I usually like for my original fic, but I like the general worldbuilding and it’s good to know there will be more (and I hope more gnoles).
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Oh, there will definitely be more gnoles. Have you read Swordheart? It's pretty fun, set in the same world/community.
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