Lunar Boy by Jes and Cin Wibowo
I am starting my review of Lunar Boy with: I have questions. None are about the story itself, which is, a child from the Moon is adopted by a woman from New Earth. They live on a space station until the mother, in the process of helping her New Earth friend deal with the death of his wife, falls in love, marries, and moves to New Earth. Then, Indu (the child) must deal with not just the stress of a move to a new home, […]
The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
Well, this is certainly one hot mess of a novelette, and it is deliciously illustrated in sketchy (in all meanings of the word) drawings by the novelist herself, a surrealistic painter. The heroine, nonagenarian vegetarian Marian Leatherby, starts off as quite deaf, but is then gifted with an old school hearing trumpet that lets her hear everything. But seemingly no one notices it, even though in the drawings it looms over her head like a conning tower. She has been placed by her children in […]
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub
While Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy were stumbling around in their awkward courtship, it seems there was another story playing out in the background – that of Lydia Bennet, witch, her familiar/sister Kitty, and the literal demon Mr. Wickham. Reader, I love Pride and Prejudice. It was one of the first classic books that I read in its original form, and I’ve reread it numerous times over the years since. But I’ve usually avoided Pride and Prejudice retellings, doubtful of how they might add their […]
Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky
Boys Weekend is Horror 101 with Comedy 102. The mix of GLBTQ themes, friendship, love, family, and an odd cult-religion all play together with first the idea of humanity, society roles and more that is taking front stage. You can take the action as a straightforward horror/thriller story or take it for a deeper meaning, but however you take it know there are possible triggers, such as violence, guns, sexual situations, visual gross-outs and blood. Lots of blood. Totally not for everyone, but everyone might […]
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Uprooted and Spinning Silver are a pair of standalone novels by Naomi Novik, though they share some similarities in that they both seem to be set in a medieval version of eastern Europe and were inspired by fairy tales, though I would say that the fairy tale inspiration is much stronger and clearer in Spinning Silver. Uprooted is about Agnieszka, a 17-year-old girl who is chosen by a wizard named the Dragon to serve him for 10 years. He chooses a new girl every 10 […]
Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is probably my all-time favorite fantasy series and I’ve wanted to read Tad Williams’ more recent novels returning to Osten Ard, but I’ve been a little daunted by having to read through the series again. Brothers of the Wind felt like a good first step in that direction, as it’s a stand-alone prequel set 1,000 years before the novels. I did pay full price for this at the bookstore due to finishing Dune earlier than I thought and foolishly not bringing […]
