I finally figured out how I cause the Apocalypse. At the end of February, I was finally so very close to being caught up with my reviews and doing great for blog posts. I apologize, I didn’t mean to. I haven’t written any reviews since, but it doesn’t seem to have helped. I’ll try and do 3 of these posts to catch up now.

First up, 4 books that are beautiful, and I loved, and haven’t been able to find the right words to talk about. So, sorry books, you deserve better, but shortish reviews are all I’ve got atm.

• The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
• The Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri
• The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
• Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Colleen Doran

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold,

a.k.a how did I not read this sooner?

(This part was drafted in the before times, when my mind was filled with stories, not the news)

You guys, this book was so good. So good. I need to stop picking up books that take up all my mental space for days, at this rate I’m never gonna get anything else done.

The blurb:

A man broken in body and spirit, Cazaril, has returned to the noble household he once served as page, and is named, to his great surprise, as the secretary-tutor to the beautiful, strong-willed sister of the impetuous boy who is next in line to rule.

It is an assignment Cazaril dreads, for it will ultimately lead him to the place he fears most, the royal court of Cardegoss, where the powerful enemies, who once placed him in chains, now occupy lofty positions. In addition to the traitorous intrigues of villains, Cazaril and the Royesse Iselle, are faced with a sinister curse that hangs like a sword over the entire blighted House of Chalion and all who stand in their circle. Only by employing the darkest, most forbidden of magics, can Cazaril hope to protect his royal charge—an act that will mark the loyal, damaged servant as a tool of the miraculous, and trap him, flesh and soul, in a maze of demonic paradox, damnation, and death.

The Curse of Chalion is a beautiful heroic fantasy, with Cazaril shining brightly like a beacon of hope from legend. The interesting part about him is that he never sees himself that way, he starts off broken and while some parts of him get better, others get worse. Overall the book is hopeful, but it digs deep into darkness, trauma, self-doubt. I find it hard to talk about this other than omg it’s so good.

Chalion is a province in a secondary world, judging by the names, inspired by ,medieval Spain (or maybe a different time-period, I dunno). The main ruler is the Roy, Orico and there are regional rulers called Provincar.  I listened to the audiobook, so no clue how anything is spelled. There’s not a lot of magic, but the bits that are there are powerful and gods-given.

The characters are lovely. The good and the bad. There’s most of the courtly crew we’re used to, in fact I think the Curse of Chalion embraces this familiarity to be able to tell the story without worldbuilding infodumps and so on.

Cazaril is so good. I want to go on and on about all the self-sacrificing things he does and how central his personality is to the story, but I don’t want to go into spoilers. There are a lot of people just trying to do their best. I loved the mentor-mentee relationship between Caz and the young princess. He helps her grow more aware of the world and what people’s intentions might be, and then looks on with pride as she gets more cunning.

The story was gripping, full ups and downs, and completely un-put-down-able for me.

Bingo 2020 squares:

Optimistic, featuring politics

Links:

Goodreads 

The Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri

The blurb:

The fate of an empire rests in the hands of a young woman with magical blood and nothing left to lose, and an outcast prince determined to save his family at any cost, in this “dark, melodious, and memorable” new fantasy (Library Journal, starred review) from the author of the award-winning Empire of Sand.

The Ambhan Empire is crumbling. A terrible war of succession hovers on the horizon. The only hope for peace lies in the mysterious realm of ash, where mortals can find what they seek in the echoes of their ancestors’ dreams. But to walk there requires a steep price.

Arwa is determined to make the journey. Widowed by a brutal massacre, she’s pledged service to the royal family and will see that pledge through to the end. She never expected to be joined by Zahir, the disgraced, illegitimate prince who has turned to forbidden magic in a desperate bid to save those he loves.

Together, they’ll walk the bloody path of their shared past. And it will call into question everything they’ve ever believed…including whether the Empire is worth saving at all.

This was so beautiful, much more beautiful than I can put into words, especially after accidentally deleting my notes for it. It’s very rich and magical.

Realm of Ash is the second of the Books of Ambha, taking place a few years after Empire of Sand, and following Mehr’s sister, Arwa. I loved Mehr in the first book, so I slogged through the first 20% of this one, angry at it for not being more of her. I did eventually get over myself and really enjoyed the book.

There’s deep mystery throughout the book, in figuring out court life, the curious young man and of course, the Realm of Ash.

The romance is so slow burn that my oblivious ass took almost as long as the characters to figure out what was going on.

Technically RoA can be read as a stand alone, without having read Empire of Sand first, but I loved them both, so I don’t know why someone would want to. I listened to the audiobook of EoS, and the narrator worked very well for me.

Bingo 2020 squares:

exploration, politics, romantic, book about books, feminist, maybe even ghosts and climate, but I’d need a second opinion on those, possibly BDO if the definition of an object is loose enough to include place

Goodreads, My review of Empire of Sand 

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

The blurb:

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

Yes hello, I am aboard the hype train for 10K Doors. Sorry it took me so long. It sounded like everything I would love in a book, and that makes me nervous, so I put it off for ages. But it was lovely, so beautiful and carefully written.

I generally love interesting story-telling methods, so I really enjoyed this format of a book within a book, and figuring out the mysteries, and how they tied in together. Though I should’ve probably caught some sooner than I did.

This is definitely a book for those that like focus on prose or language, I loved the way it’s written, often pausing to reread a sentence or two.  I love both the flowy prose and the fairytale style, so it’s a perfect fit. I will say it’s not a fast-paced adventure, but a book to be savored.

It was also the right book at the right time for me, because I was a restless girl, stuck at home, reading about January, a restless girl, stuck at home, and she was reading a book about another restless girl, stuck at home. Though the book characters got to do a lot more exploring than I did.

Something I liked about the worldbuilding was how plausible everything is. It all fits well to history and what we know about the world, you could wander into a secret place and find a door.

Bingo 2020 squares:

exploration, feminist, optimistic (maybe), book about books, big dumb object (?), number in the title

Goodreads

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman, Colleen Doran

The blurb:

A chilling fantasy retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by bestselling creators Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran.

A not-so-evil queen is terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter and determined to repel this creature and save her kingdom from a world where happy endings aren’t so happily ever after.

Do you ever buy a book just cause it looks pretty and you like the author, and not read the blurb? And then get terrified by a horror retelling of Snow White? No, just me?

Despite the multiple and increasingly terrifying aspects of this retelling, I loved it. It’s scary, but some of the interpretations make some much sense. Of course, the prince is that way, why didn’t I think of this sooner? I laughed out loud at that. I ended up really loving the wonderfully dark twists.

The art style is so gorgeous. It’s inspired by Harry  Clarke, a stained glass and book illustrator influenced by the Art Nouveau and Art Deco movements. As someone who loves all those things, this book couldn’t have fit my taste better if it tried. There’s so much detail and it all works together so well. I also liked the extra pages at the end with sketches and more info about the art. I’m very glad I got the hardcover so I could keep going back and forth, looking at all the pretty.

Bingo squares:

Graphic novel

Links:

Goodreads