Happy Tuesday, telepaths and Trekkies! I hope you all survived April Fool’s Day (my least favorite day on the Internet) unscathed and unfooled. Today we’re talking about an Octavia Butler adapation, an exciting sequel, Gollum, Pegasus by Robin McKinley, and more.
This newsletter is sponsored by Disney Publishing Worldwide and The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman.
After the death of her sister, Violet finds herself dragged to the hometown her mother fled years ago. Violet may be new to Four Paths, New York, but she soon learns her family isn’t. They’re one of the revered founding families of the town, where stone bells hang above every doorway and danger lurks in the depths of the woods. When Violet accidentally wanders into the Gray and unleashes the monster, Violet and her new friends must band together to unearth the dark truths behind their families’ abilities in order to defeat the monster… before the Gray devours them all.
In book(ish) news:
If you’re as excited for The Night Country by Melissa Albert (follow-up to The Hazel Wood) as some of my Book Riot colleagues are, then you’ll be pleased to know that EW has an excerpt!
Keep an eye out: Alyssa Cole is writing a cyborg romance (per Twitter) and it will come out SOME TIME this year. I will give a prize to whoever first finds me a link to pre-order. The prize is bragging rights plus 100 points to your House.
Remember that time Chooseco, creaters of Choose Your Own Adventure, sued Netflix over Bandersnatch? Netflix is trying to get the case dismissed (per Publishers Weekly), under First Amendment grounds.
How would you like to play Gollum in a video game? io9 reports that such a thing might exist soon.
For my horror fans, we’ve got the full trailer for Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark, whose adaptation is co-written and produced by Guillermo del Toro.
Welp, they’ve done it. Amazon has finally figured out how to break me, and it is an adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed with Nnedi Okorafor and Wanuri Kahui attached. This is VERY GOOD NEWS for Butler fans (and very bad news for my corporate scruples)!
New month, new ebook deals!
The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, $1.99
Mem by Bethany C. Morrow, $1.99
The Spectral City by Leanna Renee Hieber, $0.99
And now, let’s talk about Pegasus (Pegasus #1) by Robin McKinley:
I mentioned recently on All the Backlist, when I was filling in for Liberty, that I found this book by accident in the library. A Robin McKinley book I didn’t know existed is a rare beast indeed, so of course I grabbed it. It’s a slow, atmospheric book, and if you are already a fan and a completist, I do think it’s worth picking up; if you’re new to McKinley’s work, however, I’d strongly suggest skipping for either of my personal all-time faves, Sunshine or the Damar duology (The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown).
Before I tell you anything about the plot, let me give you the warning I did not get: Pegasus ends on the cliff-hanger-iest of cliff-hangers, almost mid-scene. A cursory glance of Goodreads reviews reveals many distraught readers demanding news of the sequel, which does not appear to be happening any time soon. In addition, basically all the action happens in the last third of the book, so it’s an extraordinarily slow burn. Read at your own peril!
Sylvi is a princess in a remarkably well-adjusted royal family. Her father is mild-mannered until pressed, scholarly, and loving; her mother is a warrior, drily funny, and very caring. As the youngest and only girl, Sylvi is a loner and on the shy side, observant and thoughtful and with a knack for seeing through pretense. The story follows her from age 12, right before she’s first bound to her pegasus companion Ebon, to when she’s 16 (when all the action happens).
Royalty from both the human and pegasi courts are routinely bound together on the human’s 12th birthday, but unlike most other pairs Sylvi and Ebon can communicate telepathically. This is immediately troublesome, both because it’s unusual and because the court magicians are not having it. Their own utility is based largely on mediating communication between the two species; perfect communication through a pair threatens their power at court. While the head magician Fthoom (not a typo, that is his name) makes trouble both in front of and behind the scenes, Sylvi and Ebon try to navigate court politics — but mostly just want to fly together.
Pegasus is almost entirely a world-building tour through the courts of the human and pegasi, and if you’re up for many pages of lovingly detailed descriptions and vignettes without much plot, then dive on in. It’s a sweet story, and a nice distraction for a quiet afternoon or weekend, and who knows — maybe we’ll actually get the sequel someday.
And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.
May your feathers be unruffled,
Jenn