Author: Jenn Northington

Hello and happy Tuesday, goblins and Guardians. There’s a lot of book news this week, both sad and happy, including some awards. I spent the weekend in a reading rut, picking up book after book only to abandon them 50 pages later, so instead of a single review this week I’m offering you a round-up of books newly in paperback, for the price-conscious/trade-waiters/vacation-read-seekers amongst you!

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This newsletter is sponsored by BookCon.

BookCon is a celebration of storytelling happening June 1 & 2 in NYC! BookCon is packed with authors you know and love, and new ones to discover! Have your books signed by V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Charlie Jane Anders, NK Jemisin and more. Meet up with other book lovers, snag copies of books before they’re released and explore this event packed with bookish goodies and interactive experiences.

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In bookish news:

RIP Gene Wolfe and Vonda McIntyre both, two renowned SF/F writers who passed away in recent weeks. I still own a battered copy of McIntyre’s The Moon and the Sun, which is about mermaids and the court of Louis XIV, and I was very sad to see this news.

Now for something happy: awards!
– The Ditmar Awards, for Australian SF, has announced its preliminary ballot.
– The Kitchies (a personal favorite, awarded to “the year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining science fiction”) have been announced — congrats to Circe by Madeline Miller and Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi!

Zen Cho has written a wuxia-inspired novella about a thief and a nun and Tor.com will be publishing it, and HOO BOY am I jazzed for this.

We’ve got an exclusive excerpt from the new epic fantasy We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples has an official end date, and I can’t lie to you — I’m so relieved there’s a planned ending!

And The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon is getting a TV show.

This week in new releases:

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse
It’s finally here, y’all! That cover! I am 2 of 2 on library holds for it and I can’t believe someone else beat me to it. I cannot wait to see what is next for my favorite grumpy, angry, vengeful monster-hunter Maggie.

And in ebook deals:

Cast in Shadow (Chronicles of Elantra #1) by Michelle Sagara, $1.99, for those who like a murder mystery plus supernatural hijinks.

Worlds of Exile and Illusion (Rocannon’s World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions) by Ursula K. Le Guin, $2.99, for completists who might have missed these early (and very strange) novels in Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle.

Review Spotlight: New in Paperback!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who waits for paperback versions of books, even though exercising impulse control is the pits. This is a very good month for it — here are five books, both sequels and stand-alones, newly out in April and ideal for shoving into your backpack/suitcase/tote for all your summer reading needs.

Only Human (Themis Files #3) by Sylvain Neuvel
I’m not current with this series, alas, but I very much enjoyed talking to Neuvel about sci-fi on the Recommended podcast, and this conclusion to the Themis Files trilogy has been pitched as The Martian meets Pacific Rim, so it’s on my list.

Tender by Sofia Samatar
This short story collection is full of gems. Some have a scholarly feel, like “An Account of the Land of Witches” or “Ogres of East Africa,” in which Samatar is cataloguing wonders previously unseen. Some are funny and heartbreaking, like “Walkdog.” All of them are bursting at the seams with magic, and with Samatar’s deliberate and precise use of language. Her style is a moving target — sometimes ornate and sometimes spare, some times casual and sometimes formal — but it’s always deployed with purpose, and the results are spell-binding. In conclusion, I am president of the Sofia Samatar Fan Club, over here. (There is even a blurb from me on the back cover!) Get this collection on your shelf and into your brain.

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss
Another one from my TBR! This novel continues the adventures of Mary Jekyll and other daughters of mad scientists (great premise, amirite) who go on a trip across Europe to save another “monstrous girl,” what could go wrong SLASH what’s not to love? This is the sequel to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, in case you missed it.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Poppy War starts off feeling like a pre-Industrial silkpunk fantasy, similar to Dao’s Forest of a Thousand Lanterns or Liu’s The Grace of Kings; it becomes a somewhat wry underdog story set in a military academy; and then suddenly you are reading a drug-addled, supernaturally-twisted meditation on the horrors of war and prejudice.

Rin is a war orphan, raised by abusive foster parents who want to sell her off into a loveless marriage. She takes matters into her own hands when she decides to take the Keju, a nation-wide test that can send her to school and give her a shot at a future of her own choosing. Her stubborn determination sees her through and she receives a scholarship to the prestigious military academy of Sinegard. If she can hack it there, sheʼll become a general in the Empressʼs army, and sheʼs determined to hack it — at any cost. And when war comes to Nikara, Rin is forced to face the darkest parts of both humanity and herself.

The Book of Flora (The Road to Nowhere #3) by Meg Ellison
Several of my Book Riot colleagues are in love with this series, and I somehow missed that there are now three of them (!). It’s also won a Philip K. Dick Award, which is nothing to sneeze at. It’s a post-apocalypse story about birth control and gender, among other things, and if that’s your jam, all three of the books are now in paper.

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.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, ambassadors and aswangs! Today in linky goodness we’ve got some reading recommendations, a counter to Game of Thrones, and Tolkien’s grave, plus a review of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Finder by Suzanne Palmer.

From Hugo Award winner Suzanne Palmer comes a sci-fi caper starring Fergus Ferguson, interstellar repo man with a simple mission: find the spacecraft Venetia’s Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, a power-hungry trade boss. Fergus locates both Gilger and Sword in a backwater deep space colony. But his arrival kicks off a civil war, and Fergus must ally with Gilger’s enemies to survive. Even worse, he’s become inconveniently invested in the lives of the locals. He’ll need all the help he can get to take back the Sword—and maybe save the colony from destruction in the process.

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I am, perhaps weirdly, a sucker for epidemic stories (both fiction and nonfiction) so this post about 10 fictional pandemics is of great interest to me, and even has a few I haven’t read yet. (Shout-out to favs Station Eleven, Zone One, and Her Body and Other Parties!)

If you’ve been struggling with HBO’s Game of Thrones, this essay on leaving GoT and learning to love The Dragon Prince is a great and nuanced read.

The fairytale nerd in me is absolutely in love with this round-up of ways to start a story from around the world. Krik krak!

And speaking of fairytales, an amateur folklorist is here to correct some of the many misconceptions surrounding them, and I love this idea of fairytale as meme!

Do you need more unicorns in your life? DON’T WE ALL? Here are 50 must-reads, you’re welcome.

If you’re in need of “Thanos was wrong” ammunition, this look at the scientific practicalities of The Snap is my favorite, especially for the line: “If you wiped out half of all humans, in another 40 years, we’d likely be back to the same population numbers.” It would, however, be very bad for rhinos.

And from cool-and-kind-of-weird: did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien is buried in a special type of grave known as a cradle grave, that allows for gardening on top? I’m a gardener in a historic cemetery tending a couple of these, and now need to plan a pilgrimage/chat with the Tolkiens’ gardener. They will probably definitely not think I am weird at all!

Space opera ahoy! It’s A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine:

We get regular requests on the Get Booked podcast for Star Trek read-alikes, which I understand to mean space opera that contains interesting and varied characters, political and moral complexity, and trending overall towards optimism. It’s an interesting question, and I don’t take the comparison lightly. (Captain Janeway is my captain, for the record.) So when I say that Arkady Martine’s debut A Memory Called Empire should be added to that list, I really mean it.

In a galaxy far far away, in an Empire that references both the Aztecs and Romans, newly-minted ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives at the Emperor’s court to find her predecessor murdered. Had the previous ambassador followed protocol and backed up his memories for implant, this would just be a regular ol’ murder problem — but Dzmare only has access to an implant, or imago, that is 15 years old, and it’s malfunctioning. She has no idea what he’s been up to in the meantime, people at court know things about her home station that they shouldn’t, and Mahit has to plunge into the deadly political wheelings and dealings of Teixcalaan with only her gut instincts and occasional flashes of insight to guide her. Oh, and solve a murder!

Martine has done such excellent world-building here, both for Mahit’s Stationer home and Teixcalaan. The obsession with poetry and literature; the variety of inventive tech; the jagged emotional edges of civil unrest; the descriptions of clothes and food and the streets and the palace, and and and! It’s detailed without being overwrought, highly immersive, and fascinating. The emotional details are on point as well: Mahit struggles with her fascination with Teixcalaan and her loyalty to her home, the high-stakes game of chicken she is forced to play to maintain their independence is an absolute nail-biter, and the other characters are beautifully drawn as well. The political machinations felt genuine (and, in certain cases, unsettlingly familiar), and the action sequences were well-paced. Martine also shows the respect of a historian for her influences, which is perhaps not surprising since she is, in fact, a historian. I do have a quibble in that the use of italics for emphasis through-out is a stylistic choice I never love, but c’est la vie.

While the main plot-line came to a staggering resolution, there are no tidy conclusions to be found here. Which is as it should be; complexity begets complexity, and one can retain hope without settling for “easy” answers. I picked up this book because it had an Ann Leckie blurb on the cover, and I’m happy to say that it was well-earned. I’ll be following this series with great interest, and shelving it alongside Leckie, Le Guin, Butler, and my ST: Voyager DVDs.

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.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello gelflings and garudas! I am returned from my cryopod, I MEAN Toronto, and am back in the saddle. Today we’re talking a little GoT, a little Star Wars, a little science, and Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive.

Meet Libby. The award-winning reading app that makes sure you always have something to read. It’s like having your entire library right in your pocket. Download the app today and get instant access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free thanks to your public library and OverDrive.

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We’re a little light on straight-up book news today, but there are some interesting things afoot regardless:

Winter has arrived with the latest season of Game of Thrones, and all you die-hard fans will be excited to hear that Folio Society is releasing a collector’s edition later this year!

Sharifah and I spent a bunch of time discussing the new live-action Cowboy Bepop, as well as con-artists and thieves, in the latest episode of SFF Yeah!

If like me you were traveling on Friday and didn’t get a chance to watch the Star Wars IX trailer, here’s a breakdown from Black Nerd Problems (although heads up that that’s Mark Hamill at the end, not Fisher). (Also, where’s my hankie 😭.)

Speaking of die-hard fans, if you’re burning to know the details of the Mandalorian trailer, viewed only by in-person attendees at Star Wars Celebration on Sunday, io9 has a recap.

And in “science is really freaking cool” news, here’s a fascinating primer on the first-ever photograph of a black hole.

Buzzy new releases this week:

Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker
I absolutely intended to read this by review week, and yet. This is an epic fantasy series based on The Mahabharata (like A Spark of White Fire, but for adults) and I am here for it.

No Country for Old Gnomes (The Tales of Pell #2) by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
Not going to lie, I am listing this almost entirely for that title. The description includes gnomes in cardigans and halflings on war alpacas, and it looks like this belongs in the Terry Pratchett-esque section of fantasy, so I am intrigued!

Cheap ebooks update:

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, $2.99 (BUY THIS IMMEDIATELY, this is an absolute steal)

The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrelyn Sparks, $1.99 (I know nothing about this but can’t stop laughing, today is Amazing Titles Day)

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, $1.99 (relevant to today’s review)

Let us talk about the timeliness of Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson:

Even though it was published in 2015 and the stories were written over the course of many years, the foreword of Falling in Love with Hominids feels like it could have been written yesterday. Hopkinson writes:

[O]ne of the progressions I’ve made is from being a depressed teenager who saw how powerless she was to change all the ills around her to being a mostly cheerful fifty-something who realizes there are all kinds of ways of working towards positive change. […] [W]e’re all on the same spinning ball of dirt, trying to live as best we can. […] So part of the work of these past few decades of my life has been the process of falling in love with hominids.

In this Year of Our Continued Angst 2019, this was both a welcome message and reminder that facing and exploring humanity’s flaws is not the same as exonerating them, and the stories contained within do that work in so many ways. These are stories of abuse, of failure, of violence, but also of love, of yearning, of joy.

Whether she’s reimagining werewolves in “The Easthound,” The Tempest in “Shift,” or dating a plant-lady in “A Raggy Dog, A Shaggy Dog” (a personal favorite, that last one), Hopkinson is deeply aware of the fault lines in the human psyche. That’s where the horror comes from, but also the beauty. “Delicious Monster” takes a complicated father-son relationship and gives it a supernatural twist; “A Young Candy Daughter” imagines what growing up might look like for God. If you’re a Borderlands fan — and even if you’re not — “Men Sell Not Such in Any Town” is a must-read.

Each of the 18 stories comes with a short intro, and each is infused with Hopkinson’s lyrical language, Caribbean rhyme and folklore, and often patois. Some are as short as a page and a half while others are as long as 20 pages, but all feel much bigger on the inside, as the saying goes. And all of them went some way towards helping me fall a little bit back in love with humanity. I’m glad I’m not legally required to pick a favorite Hopkinson; between Brown Girl in the Ring, Salt Roads, Midnight Robber, and Falling in Love with Hominids, it’s an impossible choice. For those looking for a starting place to her work, this is a perfect entry point; for current fans, it’s a must not miss.

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 the Force be with you,
Jenn

Hello, gods and goblins! I hope you’re having a fine Tuesday. Today we’re doing a deep dive into the Hugo Finalists, along with some exciting new book and book adaptation news concerning Sarah J. Maas, Cat Valente, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Wednesday Books and Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan.

The monster hidden behind pale, tortured eyes and a devastating smile. The girl with Dark Gods whispering spells in her head. The prince surrounded by deadly assassins and ambitious suitors. “This gothic jewel of a story will sink its visceral iron claws into you, never letting go until you’ve turned the last page.” (Robin LaFevers)

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Before any of that, though, I am delighted to tell you that we have a new podcast on Book Riot! It’s called Kidlit These Days, covers all things picture books and middle grade, and the first two episodes are live. Go forth and find it on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or the podcatcher of your choice!

And a few quick news bites before we get into our Hugo Finalists Spotlight:

George R.R. Martin will be in conversation with Marlon James tomorrow, Wednesday April 10, in a livestream from The Verge.

Sarah J. Maas announced the release date of her new novel, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, on Instagram — it’ll be hitting shelves January 28, 2020.

Cat Valente announced on Twitter that there will be a sequel to Space Opera called Space Oddity, in 2021.

Chuck Wendig’s new novel Wanderers has been optioned [Deadline] by the producers of Get Out.

Naomi Ishiguro, daughter of Kazuo Ishiguro, got a book deal [The Bookseller] for a short story collection and I for one cannot wait to read it.

And now, for our Spotlight on the Hugo Finalists!

Looking through the list, I realized I had reviewed a good chunk of them, so I decided to put together a refresher. In the meantime, I desperately need to read the ones I missed!

Best Novel:

Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager): Both a meditation on mortality and a celebration of what it means to choose your life, Record of a Spaceborn Few adds new depth to Chambers’ world-building, a new take on the generation ship trope, and new characters to love. (full review here)

Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris):  Is consent possible when the choices are rigged? What does it mean to be a self-aware monster? What does it mean to struggle against a society that sets you up to be a monster? Lee is exploring these questions and more, and taking us along for the ride. (full review)

Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan): Much like Uprooted, Novik is retelling a variety of fairy tales here. But this book is a much more timely and broad-ranging story, taking on anti-Semitism, abuse and trauma, and father-daughter relationships. It’s a tightly paced, beautifully plotted and written book, and I think it’s my favorite thing she’s ever written. (full review here)

Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga): Roanhorse has brought Navajo legends to life in a post-apocalyptic world with a monster-slaying, kick-ass heroine, and it is one of my favorite debuts — and favorite post-apocalyptic fantasies — of the year. (full review here)

Best Novella

The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing): Set in an alternate 1880s United States, in which the Civil War ended in a truce and Louisiana is a neutral free-state, The Black God’s Drums takes us on a whirling tour of a vivid and vibrant alternate New Orleans, complete with political wheelings and dealings, houses of ill-repute, some very surprising nuns, airships, and a battle for the soul of a city. (full review here)

Best Series

The Centenal Cycle, by Malka Older (Tor.com Publishing): I came for the concept, got sucked in by the action, and stayed for the personalities brought to life in these pages. I said back in 2016 when I first read Infomocracy that it was one of the few books I’d read that made me feel better about the US election, and this continues to be true. (full review here)

Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris): You already know how I feel about this series, enough said.

The Universe of Xuya, by Aliette de Bodard (most recently Subterranean Press): Her ability to world-build is immense, and her prose is rich and vibrant with details. (full review of On a Red Station, Drifting)

Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager): If I had to boil down the premises of each of the Wayfarers books into a single sentence, it would go like this:
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is about finding your family. A Closed and Common Orbit is about finding yourself. Record of a Spaceborn Few is about finding your place.

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

S.A. Chakraborty (2nd year of eligibility): Chakraborty continues expandin her world and mythology, offering new insights into her characters, tackling the fall-out from prejudice and bigotry, and creating an immense amount of tension in the meantime. (review of City of Brass here and Kingdom of Copper here)

R.F. Kuang (1st year of eligibility): Occasionally a book comes along that is so surprising, it takes time to process what you just read. The Poppy War is one of those books. (full review here)

Rivers Solomon (2nd year of eligibility): An Unkindness of Ghosts is a generation-ship story that examines the intersections of racism and class structures, and is essential for readers who can’t get enough NK Jemisin, Ursula Le Guin, and Octavia Butler.

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.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, hackers and hellhounds! Today we’ve got the Hugo Awards finalists announcement, Baba Yaga reads, divine costuming, cookie drama, a review of The Vela Season 1, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling.

Desperate to earn money to get off of her backwater planet, Gyre lied her way onto this solo cave expedition. But the fat paycheck should have meant a skilled surface team to keep her safe. Instead, she got Em. Em controls Gyre’s body with drugs and withholds critical information. She knows about Gyre’s lies, and uses them as a leash. As Gyre descends, inconsistencies begin to make her paranoid: missing supplies, unexpected route changes, and shifts in Em’s motivations. Gyre must overcome more than just dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground home if she wants to make it out alive.

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Before we get into the nitty gritty, I am delighted to announce our newest podcast! Kidlit These Days covers picture books and middle grade novels, and if you love kids books and/or find yourself gifting them regularly, you’ll want to give it a listen.

Speaking of podcasts, the special book club episode of SFF Yeah! that I’ve been teasing for weeks is live! Ausma Zehanat Khan (The Black Khan) and I talked about eugenics, strong female characters, Arab representation, and did some fancasting for Dune by Frank Herbert.

The Hugo Award finalists have been announced! It is an amazing list, and I’m super excited for The Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast’s Best Fancast nomination — Book Riot contributor Alex Wells and sound engineer Jen Zink are both involved, and I am happily firing a confetti cannon on their behalf.

I am a huge fan of Baba Yaga (despite only recently having learned the correct pronunciation, which is ‘BA-ba ya-GA’), so this list of five reads about her is definitely in my wheelhouse.

I have not watched the TV adaptation of American Gods at all yet, but this round-up [SYFY WIRE] of the best costumes so far is excellent. (Gillian Anderson!!!!)

It is finally Spring, and I know because I was able to go outside without a coat twice already this month! Glorious. In addition to warmer weather, April is also bringing us some exciting new reads [SYFY WIRE].

This just made me hungry: as part of their promotion with Game of Thrones, Oreo remade the title sequence [YouTube] entirely with cookies. Well played.

And now, let’s talk about why you should tune in to The Vela by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, S.L. Huang, and Rivers Solomon:

Currently available in audio; omnibus ebook coming late 2019.

That author line-up, though! That alone is probably enough for some of you to dive in. For the rest, there are five episodes currently available in Season 1 of The Vela and I am here to tell you that it’s one hell of a ride.

The Vela begins with Agent Asala Sikou, a veteran soldier and sniper who is hired by the president of the planet Khayyam to guard the visiting dictator from neighboring planet Gan-De. Their entire solar system is in peril: their sun is dying, due in part to Khayyam’s over-harvesting of hydrogen, and the Outer Planets have already become inhabitable, leading to a refugee crisis. Gan-De is notoriously isolationist and while Khayyam is not much better, President Ekrem has sent a state-of-the-art ship to bring high-profile refugees back to Khayyam. The ship goes missing, an attack is made on General Cynwrig, and Asala must try to solve both problems.

A former refugee herself, Asala is a prickly and solitary character who wants nothing more than to stay out of politics, do her job, and get paid. But this mission and her unwanted sidekick Niko, a young hacker who is also the child of President Ekrem, are forcing her to relive her own past and question her priorities. As Asala and Niko head out into the ‘verse to find answers, they only end up with more questions — and no one is being completely honest about what they know. High-stakes hijinks ensue, including ground and space battles, double agents, AI, and prison breaks (whew!).

Huang and Lee are clear choices for a story like this: both excel at action sequences, and Lee has made his mark on space opera with The Machineries of Empire series. Rivers Solomon and Becky Chambers are interesting additions — Chambers is aces at character development and space stories, and it’s fun to see her flex her action-sequence chops (which are considerable, it turns out). Solomon, whose novel An Unkindness of Ghosts is a personal favorite, holds their own as well; I loved the blend of character background and covert ops in Episode 3.

As I mentioned, there are currently five episodes live; I should note here that I have read them, rather than listened, so I can’t speak to the sound of the episodes. But I have been lucky enough to get to read through Episode 10, so believe me when I say that this story will keep you on the edge of your seat. The pacing is cleverly thought out; the world-building is richly detailed; the cast is intriguing and diverse in gender, sexuality, culture, and ethnicity. I cannot wait to see where The Vela goes as it continues to develop.

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.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

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.

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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.

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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

Hello and happy Friday, foundlings and Fomorians. Today we’re talking about a Tolkien fandom project, vampires, swordswomen, continued Avengers feelings, Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet, and more!

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This newsletter is sponsored by Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing, publishers of Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell.

In the tradition of The Lunar Chronicles, this sweeping reimagining of Les Misérables tells the story of three teens from very different backgrounds who are thrown together amidst the looming threat of revolution on the French planet of Laterre.

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In the Olde-time Vampire Novels arena, there are two heavyweights: Carmilla and Dracula. I really love this take on which is better.

This week on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I talked about international SF/F, the Harry Potter AR game, and had some muppet arms about Time Bandits.

Calling all Tolkien fans: Marquette University, home to a large Tolkien archive, is putting together an oral history project featuring 3-minute stories from LOTR fans, and you could be one of them.

I ship it: Tessa Thompson and Brie Larson exchanging fan art of Valkyrie and Captain Marvel is the best thing that happened to my dash this week.

Do you like free books and/or Arthuriana? We’re doing a giveaway for Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy, and you can enter through April 2.

I love a good action sequence, and therefore definitely love this round-up of swordswomen in fantasy, which has several personal favorites (Tavis!!!!!).

SF/F isn’t always subtle, so this list of films that make do without special effects is very intriguing. (Also I’ve seen none of them, how did I miss so many?)

ICYMI, the Avengers: Endgame posters have some reveals of, as io9 so perfectly frames it, who is sad and who is dead. 😭

And now, the space hijinks of Nightchaser (Endeavor #1) by Amanda Bouchet

Trigger warnings: mentions of sexual assault, medical experimentation, and child abuse

I’ve read Bouchet before, specifically A Promise of Fire (which, if you’re looking for a Greek-inspired fantasy romance with lots of magic powers and a kidnapping warlord who turns out to be the good guy, you should read), so I thought I knew what to expect when a friend send me Nightchaser. I was wrong! This is a completely different kind of book from start to finish, and I enjoyed it a lot — albeit with a caveat.

Let’s start with the good: this is a space-opera romance with a conscience. Our heroine is Tess Bailey (not her real name), captain of the Endeavor, and she and her crew have just “liberated” a government lab that is supposed to be full of vaccines. Her plan is to take them to the orphanage she grew up in to inoculate the kids, since the supply of things like medicine and vaccines is severely limited. Who can argue with that? The government, it turns out! Also? That’s not a vaccine, but a super-soldier serum.

On the run and trying to figure out what to do, she and her crew end up on the planet Albion 5 in desperate need of repairs. The shop she (un)fortunately walks into belongs to Shade Donovan, sexy repairman and secret bounty hunter. As Tess and Shade’s chemistry builds, he has to decide if he’s willing to lose the immense payout offered for turning her in, while Tess tries to figure out the ties between the super-soldier serum and her own past.

The action scenes are fun, the emotional stakes are sky-high, and the political shenanigans are tangled, all of which makes for a compelling read. Bouchet also deconstructs the Alpha Hero trope with Shade in a very satisfying way; I’m on record as Team Beta, but this I will take. It does end on a cliffhanger — consider yourself warned!

Now for the caveat, which is around the treatment of one specific character, who seems to become a punching bag for the plot. A woman of color with a traumatic past, she’s also the person the most tragic things happen to over the course of the book. However, many other characters have experienced trauma of some kind. There are also multiple other characters of color in the novel, many of whom are complete and total badasses and who experience their own triumphs, which I did appreciate.

On the whole, this is a promising start to a new series. If you like found-family stories, romance, and space opera, give this one a whirl.

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.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, ifrits and incubi! Today there are some very exciting announcements of books to come, Seanan McGuire adaptation news, new releases, and some gushing about The True Queen by Zen Cho. Let’s get to it!

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This newsletter is sponsored by Tor Books.

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn’t an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court. Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan’s unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture and hiding a deadly technological secret.

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Let’s talk book(ish) news:

A new trilogy by Sylvain Neuvel is coming! It won’t be out til 2020, but in the meantime you can listen to him talk about his SF influences on Recommended.

Powerhouse editors Jeff and Ann VanderMeer have a new anthology coming out in July, called The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, and it will include international and never-before-translated stories.

Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone are collaborating on a book about star-crossed, time-traveling spies, and you can consider me Officially Interested.

Leigh Bardugo is writing a fantasy novel for adults (!) called Ninth House, about the Ivy League elite, and EW has the cover reveal.

You might remember Liberty gushing about Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir; if you’re curious, you can now read the first chapter.

Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series is getting a TV adaptation, and most of Book Riot is freaking out.

The Dark Tower TV adaptation, coming from Amazon, is a go.

And in Marvel news, the Black Widow solo movie is moving forward and might involve Florence Pugh.

In this week’s exciting new releases:

The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano: While I haven’t watched anime consistently since college, I miss having it as part of my media diet. This novel, about a girl who can communicate with animals and who must fight against war, is exactly up my alley, and I love the cover. By a popular Japanese writer, this series has been out there for some years and has already been turned into an anime, so obviously it’s going on my list.

Tiamat’s Wrath (Expanse #8) by James S.A. Corey: One of these days — maybe when the series is over? — I will give the Expanse novels another try. I got deeply squicked out by the body-horror in the opening chapter of the first book, but I’ve been repeatedly assured that that’s actually the worst of it, and everything I’ve heard about both the books and the TV series adaptation is amazing. One day! Meanwhile the rest of you have probably already pre-ordered this.

At long last, let us flail about The True Queen by Zen Cho

Like many, I’ve been waiting for this book to come out since 2015. Its publication date was changed more than once, leaving many of us in agonies, but I am delighted to report that I adored this book, and it was absolutely worth the wait.

The True Queen starts out with an almost fable-like feel: two young women wash up on a beach. They have no memories of themselves or others, but they somehow recognize and can name each other. Luckily for them, they’ve washed ashore on Janda Baik, and are taken in by the inimitable Mak Genggang (#TeamMakGenggang). Sakti turns out to be incredibly talented in magic while Muna has none at all, but Muna is perfectly happy to be of use in other ways. When Sakti starts to disappear one piece at a time and the two discover that she’s been cursed by an unknown magician, their attempts to find a solution only make things worse. Forced to flee Janda Baik, they’re sent through the Unseen Realms of fairy to take refuge with the Sorceress Royal (#TeamPrunella) — but only Muna makes it to England.

Muna must try to save Sakti, who is trapped in Fairy, and navigate the complicated politics of English magic (which have not improved significantly since Sorcerer to the Crown), all without any magic of her own. Almost no one and no thing is exactly what they seem, and Muna must rely on her own wits to find her way and save the day. In the process, we follow her from Janda Baik to England to a dragon’s lair and the court of the Fairy Queen, and I’m delighted to tell you that favorites from Sorcerer make appearances, especially Damerell and Rollo! (#Team … ok, I am just #TeamEveryone, really.)

Amazing characters; two beautiful queer love stories; an expansion of the world-building; there’s so much to love here. My absolute favorite part, though? This is, much like Sorcerer to the Crown, a comedy of manners in the vein of Austen and Heyer. And, just like Sorcerer, Cho has flipped the script. Muna repeatedly triumphs just by being a decent human being, while (as you might guess) the English fail at this time and again. Cho claims the upper hand by turning colonialist, Eurocentric tropes upside down, inside out, and backwards, and does it with humor and aplomb. Excuse me while I go reread Sorcerer, just so I can have an excuse to reread True Queen as soon as possible.

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.

Always say please and thank you,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, demigods and Dúnedain! Today we’re talking about who Captain Marvel might … eat? … next, intriguing author interviews, the best SF/F films of the last decade, We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Amazon Publishing and The Fever King by Victoria Lee.

In The Fever King by Victoria Lee, the first read in a captivating new series, a teen wakes up in a hospital bed with a magical new ability. Will he use his newfound power to become a hero for the downtrodden, or is he destined to become their oppressor? Read The Fever King by Victoria Lee.

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I asked about Dune series feelings in the last newsletter, and was assured by reader Ruth that “Only the first three books are worth reading in my opinion.” Thanks for weighing in — I’ve heard that before from others, so we’ll see what I can make time for!

Cannibal Captain Marvel? George R.R. Martin thinks she could eat Tony and Thor, and I can’t technically disagree.

If reading G. Willow Wilson’s The Bird King made you realize that you need more myth retellings in your life, behold! Here are 50.

And speaking of G. Willow Wilson, this is a fascinating and thoughtful interview with her about history, mythology, colonialism, and more.

In Star Wars news, the Force is strong with this review of EK Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow — it makes me want to read it IMMEDIATELY.

Ever wondered where Charlie Jane Anders (The City in the Middle of the Night) gets her ideas, or the importance of tidally locked planets, or what she’s working on next? This interview is a great read.

What’s the best SF/F film of the last decade? io9 is running a March Madness bracket! I will now spend way too long filling mine out.

Which Defense Against the Dark Arts professor are you? According to this quiz I am Remus Lupin *dusts shoulder off*.

I am, of course, not the only reader obsessed with Robin McKinley’s works, and this ode to her characters gives me all the “THIS!!!!” feels.

Just when I thought I was tired of YA dystopias….

We Set the Dark on Fire (#1) by Tehlor Kay Mejia

There are a lot of oppressive-government-plus-finishing-school-for-girls YA novels out there, y’all, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t still be done well, and Mejia has done it. We Set the Dark on Fire starts out with a gauzy myth and ends with a (literal) bang, and is a page-turner from start to finish.

Dani Vargas is a student at the Medio School for Girls, in training to become a Primera, or first wife, of one of Medio’s elite young men. In Medio, each upper class household consists of a husband, a Primera trained to be poised and intelligent, and a Segunda whose job is to be beautiful and satisfy the emotional needs of her husband. Dani is very, very good at being a Primera, maintaining a facade of calm and propriety at all times — and a big part of that is that she has a lot to hide. She’s actually from beyond the border wall of Medio, at school on illegal papers. Her parents spent years working to send her to the School for Girls so that she would have a better life, but on the eve of her graduation and selection, she can’t help but wonder how much better this life actually is. When her assigned husband, who may one day be the president of Medio, turns out to be a cold, ruthless, violent young man, her fears are confirmed … and then the rebellion contacts her.

Dani has so many choices to make: where to align herself politically, how to best protect herself and her family, how to use the skills she’s learned over the years, what to do about the new love awakening in her. What kind of life does she want, and what kind of life can she actually have? Mejia digs into the conflicts of family duty and personal loyalty, and the complicated morality of resistance, with thoughtfulness and nuance as well as strong emotion. Dani is also the least self-absorbed teen heroine I’ve seen in a while, as well as one of the most pragmatic. She has no high-flying, romantic notions, and is all too ready to sideline her own dreams and hopes for those of others. This is both a strength and a flaw, and a refreshing take on this familiar story.

This book is for readers craving a different take on the YA dystopia. Rooted in Latinx heritage, with an inclusive cast of characters including an LGBTQIA+ romance, We Set the Dark on Fire will suck you into its lush, detailed world and spit you out with a spinning brain and an urgent need to know what is going to happen next. (I also have an urgent need for the next installment to be told from Carmen’s perspective, so if anyone has any info on that, PLEASE SHARE.)

Bonus: here’s a great interview with Mejia about her own identity and influences, and the writing process.

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.

Stay strong,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, makers and Martians! Today we’ve got Murderbot and Game of Thrones news, an expanded section on this week’s new releases, further musings about Dune, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles by Thomas Lennon, from Amulet Books.

Discover a world of law-breaking leprechauns and sly faeries in this new must-read fantasy series perfect for fans of The Land of Stories and Artemis Fowl! From writer and actor Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!, Night at the Museum), Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles follows fourteen-year-old Ronan Boyle, the lowliest recruit to the Garda Special Unit of Tir Na Nog, a secret organization that handles the misdeeds of numerous magical creatures. Despite his small size and numerous allergies, Ronan is determined to prove himself—even if it means confronting fiery leprechauns, sinister harpies and a whole world of monsters.

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Newsy news news:

ALERT ALERT ALERT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL: We are getting a full Murderbot novel! It will be called Network Effect and will come out in May 2020, so you’ve got plenty of time to reread all the novellas while you’re counting down the days.

If you’re a Game of Thrones show completist, you’ll be delighted to hear that there will be four tomes of behind-the-scenes material released, including one each on storyboards and costumes.

Related, here are the dates and run-times of the final episodes of Game of Thrones.

The sequel to Sangu Mandanna’s A Spark of White Fire, House of Rage and Sorrow, has a cover reveal! And it is gor. geous. I love that it captures both the fantastical and the sci-fi elements of the series.

Another cover reveal, PLUS an excerpt; this one is for Tochi Onyebuchi’s War Girls (October 15, 2019), a sci-fi tale set in Nigeria in 2172, and you have my attention.

Was someone cutting onions while you watched the Avengers: Endgame trailer? If you haven’t watched it yet, feelings warning.

Leah attended the Good Omens adaptation panel at SXSW and is here to spill all the secrets.

Speaking of panels, here’s a write-up and video of Noelle Stephenson at ECCC talking She-Ra, developing new and old characters, LGBT inclusion, and more.

New release I’m jazzed about (and why):

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
This latest novel from Hurley is solidly sci-fi, and follows a soldier who has been sent to the front lines of a war against Mars. The soldiers get there and back by being broken down into light, and not everyone comes back the same. I can’t wait to dig into this one; despite my peaceful nature, war stories are my jam, especially ones that exam PTSD and propaganda. I also noticed that the main character, Dietz, is not assigned a gender in the publisher copy, and Hurley regularly tackles LGBTQ+ issues in her work, so I am Very Interested.

The Deepest Blue: Tales of Renthia by Sarah Beth Durst
As you might have noticed in past reviews, I enjoyed all the Queens of Renthia books quite a bit. This book is not a direct sequel, just set in a different part of the same world. If you thought the body count was high in those, it seems like we should be prepared for even more — in the islands of Belene, rather than receiving training, those who have the potential to control the spirits are sent to an Island of Testing with no resources and very little hope of survival.

Some SUPER (ahem) ebook deals for your TBR:

Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas, $1.99

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo, $1.99

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, $1.99

And now, some musings on Dune by Frank Herbert!

I confess it: I have not actually finished re-reading this book yet, and the last time I read it I was in my teens (so, about 20 years ago). But I am about 2/3 through, in preparation for a book club episode of SFF Yeah!, and I am having MANY THOUGHTS so you get to hear some of them.

First and foremost is that I definitely did not know what eugenics was the last (or first) time that I read Dune. And, as Emily Asher-Perrin notes in this great piece on why it’s worth talking about white savior narratives in regard to Dune, Paul Atreides is in fact the product of a successful eugenics experiment. The full horror of this is striking me on this read, and yikes! This is the kind of plot that makes me ask: If this is what the survival of the human race requires, is it actually worth it?

And secondly, the manipulation of religion as a political tool feels both timelier and more terrifying, given the current political climate. The use of “jihad” also feels, well, yikes. But, as Asher-Perrin’s piece also notes, Herbert isn’t exactly presenting this as a good thing. Paul refers repeatedly to his “terrible purpose,” and Jessica is shown to be very aware of the soulless manipulations of the Bene Gesserit, even as she goes along with them.

Thirdly, the ecological bent of this book is perhaps my favorite part. The sophisticated tech the Fremen have developed and the planetary scale of their goals and cooperation is just freaking glorious, and it hurts my soul how much this is overshadowed and twisted by the political bent of the novel. I am desperately jonesing for a solarpunk rewrite/fanfic of Dune, in which the Fremen do not get used as a lynchpin for a power grab and instead get to develop their culture and their planet in their own way and time — not struggle-free, because nothing in life is struggle-free, but without all the Atreides/Harkonnen machinations and eugenics and slaughter.

And then there are the broader Arab/Islamic representation issues, which this piece does a great job digging into. Of course, the only reason any of us are spending this much time thinking about Dune is because of the forthcoming movie; here’s the latest casting news, in case you were wondering. I have feelings about that as well, but am saving them for the podcast.

In the meantime, I’m trying to decide if this reread means I’ll finally read any of the sequels. Thoughts on whether or not that’s worth the time are welcome, and I’d love to mention those on the podcast, so send ’em to sffyeah@bookriot.com if you’ve got ’em.

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.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn