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Tamsyn Muir, Nona the Ninth: Let me begin by confessing that I never had much idea what was going on in the previous books, content to skate on the surface of their wild fantastic imagination. But definitely by the end of Harrow the Ninth, I was beginning to think that these were the bad guys, and this book basically confirmed my take: When you tell me that Resurrection Beasts hunt necromancers because a bunch of planets died, even strategic silence on how those planets died will not avoid suspicion, especially since in Harrow they actually do kill a planet. Of course these particular people did not themselves start the system—that was God/John, and in this book we learn a fair amount more about what he thought he was doing. Nona herself is a passive, childlike presence through the book, very much acted upon rather than actor, and her emotions are often not deep or explained, which is a structural difficulty. I understand this began as a section of what is now going to be book four, and perhaps it ought to have stayed that way.
Stephen King, Fairy Tale: What it says on the tin—with lots of cross-references to Rumplestilskin, Cthulhu, and even some Stephen King works, a young man crosses over into a magical world and is recognized as a promised prince who can rescue the realm from the darkness/illness that is killing it. He even becomes blond and blue-eyed, which seems more fraught than King seems to think it is. But there’s a leisurely build to that as the young man first becomes attached to an elderly man and, more significantly, his elderly dog. It’s concern for the dog that sends him into the fantasy world, and that’s the strongest part of the book. Otherwise it’s not peak King.
Kai Butler, The Oak Wood Throne (San Amaro Investigations Book 2): This sequel is a power-up book: Parker, the fae protagonist, starts settling in to his new powers and learning how much influence he has—and what its limits are—among the fae courts, while dealing with abandonment issues that are holding him back with his cop lover. I enjoyed it, including his so-far-muted revenge against the human bad guy who once tried to kill him.
Kai Butler, A Gilded Iron Blade: Parker and his lover Nick fight a new threat to the renewed World Tree, including the threat of out-of-town takeover of the local powers that be. Parker spends time healing previous wounds and making additional connections, deepening the worldbuilding (including having a fae write a contract for him to manage his business with the fae courts). It’s enjoyable, although I did find it funny-in-the-bad-way that a big chunk of the plot turns on how the police force/other leaders of the town don’t want “government” intervention.
Kai Butler, A Shattered Silver Crown: More power-ups for Parker’s companions in this one, as he also acquires brownies who live in his beater car and demand to fix it up. The main plot involves a werewolf pack takeover as well as the reappearance of Parker’s biological father, a fae who hates humanity. Well-done enough that I’m looking forward to the next volume.
Charlie Adhara, Pack of Lies: Werewolf m/m with some consensual domination. Now the main characters’ buddy Eli is the focus, finding his own human lover in the middle of trying to run the new refuge for werewolves escaping abusive packs. There’s a murder mystery, of course, and props to Adhara for making it relatively convincing why Eli wouldn’t bring in the two law enforcement agents he knows very well, instead of relying on the random human who is also investigating in order to try to heal from his brother’s recent death. Kind of weird that the human is randomly a minor movie star, but why not?
Rebecca Roanhorse, Tread of Angels: Novella in a new universe—sort of 1800s mining town crossed with the aftermath of an angel/demon war. Celeste is a half-breed, daughter of a Fallen and an Elect, who can pass as Elect, though her sister Mariel can’t. When Mariel is arrested for the murder of an Elect, Celeste has to take on a dangerous job as her advocate, requiring her to bargain with her former lover—a demon—and confront uncomfortable truths about herself and her sister. It was basically fine but too short to get into the worldbuilding details that I was interested in—it’s set in a mining town where the substance that runs the world is mined from the corpse of a fallen major demon, and I had all sorts of questions about that.
Best of British Science Fiction 2021, ed. Donna Bond: A good collection for “where we are now”—some pandemics, some distant future/posthumanism, nothing that blew me away but it did feel like a good survey. Aliya Whitely was probably the most recognizable name for me.
Stephen King, Fairy Tale: What it says on the tin—with lots of cross-references to Rumplestilskin, Cthulhu, and even some Stephen King works, a young man crosses over into a magical world and is recognized as a promised prince who can rescue the realm from the darkness/illness that is killing it. He even becomes blond and blue-eyed, which seems more fraught than King seems to think it is. But there’s a leisurely build to that as the young man first becomes attached to an elderly man and, more significantly, his elderly dog. It’s concern for the dog that sends him into the fantasy world, and that’s the strongest part of the book. Otherwise it’s not peak King.
Kai Butler, The Oak Wood Throne (San Amaro Investigations Book 2): This sequel is a power-up book: Parker, the fae protagonist, starts settling in to his new powers and learning how much influence he has—and what its limits are—among the fae courts, while dealing with abandonment issues that are holding him back with his cop lover. I enjoyed it, including his so-far-muted revenge against the human bad guy who once tried to kill him.
Kai Butler, A Gilded Iron Blade: Parker and his lover Nick fight a new threat to the renewed World Tree, including the threat of out-of-town takeover of the local powers that be. Parker spends time healing previous wounds and making additional connections, deepening the worldbuilding (including having a fae write a contract for him to manage his business with the fae courts). It’s enjoyable, although I did find it funny-in-the-bad-way that a big chunk of the plot turns on how the police force/other leaders of the town don’t want “government” intervention.
Kai Butler, A Shattered Silver Crown: More power-ups for Parker’s companions in this one, as he also acquires brownies who live in his beater car and demand to fix it up. The main plot involves a werewolf pack takeover as well as the reappearance of Parker’s biological father, a fae who hates humanity. Well-done enough that I’m looking forward to the next volume.
Charlie Adhara, Pack of Lies: Werewolf m/m with some consensual domination. Now the main characters’ buddy Eli is the focus, finding his own human lover in the middle of trying to run the new refuge for werewolves escaping abusive packs. There’s a murder mystery, of course, and props to Adhara for making it relatively convincing why Eli wouldn’t bring in the two law enforcement agents he knows very well, instead of relying on the random human who is also investigating in order to try to heal from his brother’s recent death. Kind of weird that the human is randomly a minor movie star, but why not?
Rebecca Roanhorse, Tread of Angels: Novella in a new universe—sort of 1800s mining town crossed with the aftermath of an angel/demon war. Celeste is a half-breed, daughter of a Fallen and an Elect, who can pass as Elect, though her sister Mariel can’t. When Mariel is arrested for the murder of an Elect, Celeste has to take on a dangerous job as her advocate, requiring her to bargain with her former lover—a demon—and confront uncomfortable truths about herself and her sister. It was basically fine but too short to get into the worldbuilding details that I was interested in—it’s set in a mining town where the substance that runs the world is mined from the corpse of a fallen major demon, and I had all sorts of questions about that.
Best of British Science Fiction 2021, ed. Donna Bond: A good collection for “where we are now”—some pandemics, some distant future/posthumanism, nothing that blew me away but it did feel like a good survey. Aliya Whitely was probably the most recognizable name for me.
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