You guys, I’m two posts away from being caught up with all my reviews. As long as I resist not starting any new books I’ll do it, I’ll actually catch up! So here we go, SciFi and Fantasy mini-reviews of sequels: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin, Deathless Divide by Justina Irelans, Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey, Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett, Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash by Yahtzee Croshaw. 

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

When young Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, everything is taken away – home, family, possessions, even her name. For she is now Arha, the Eaten One, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan.

While she is learning her way through the dark labyrinth, a young wizard, Ged, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. But Ged also brings with him the light of magic, and together, he and Tenar escape from the darkness that has become her domain.

I loved this, a lot of the book takes place underground, in hidden, dark places, and the entire atmosphere was so strong and well done. It was so dark, claustrophobic, isolated, very very immersive. It’s also a lot more philosophical than I was in the mind space for, so I’ll probably reread it some time and get more depth from it. 

I was wondering when I read this, if maybe The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood has been inspired by it, there’s also a young girl chosen at a young age for an important religious role, her identity stripped from her to serve nameless gods that live in dark secret places under the earth. It’s very personal and small scale, the story is mostly her struggling between what she’s been brought up to do and what she thinks she should do. I really liked the parts where she was exploring and learning about her domain, all the time spent in the dark places of the earth, getting around only by touch and sound. 

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland 

The sequel to Dread Nation is a journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.

But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodermus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880’s America.

What’s more, this safe haven is not what it appears – as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.

But she won’t be in it alone.

Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by – and that Jane needs her, too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.

Watching Jane’s back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it’s up to Katherine to keep hope alive – even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.

I loved Dread Nation and I read it all in one day, and I possibly loved Deathless Divide even more. Though, I did read it slower. It ads Katherine’s point of view, which I consider a net win, she’s lovely and it’s charming to be in her head, it’s great seeing Jane through her eyes. It’s nice having a more sensible, level headed perspective. I also liked how this book knows no romantic middle ground, there’s Kathrine who’s ace and not attracted to anyone, and Jane, about which K. says: “To be fair, I think Jane is attracted to just about any human who gives her a passing glance”. 

Like the first book, it seems Ireland likes to pull the rug out from under you and change everything mid-book and I loved it. I think the last part was my favorite bit in the series. It’s more of a western, and she mentions setting to include Black people in Western stories, which they were normally left out of. It also deals a lot with broken characters, and how rage and thirst for revenge can destroy someone from the inside. Even though the previous parts were dark, with lots of loss and pain and zombies, this part turned it all up a notch. It did also turn up the badassery, shit was epic. 

We got to see a lot more places and how they’ve been affected by the zombie plague. I kinda wished I knew more about the history and geography of the period, but it was still ok. Reaching a more multi-cultural town was great. 

Lastly and very importantly, fuck that one character in particular. 

My review of Dread Nation

The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey

Tarma witnessed her clan’s murder and, swearing vengeance, became a master warrior. Kethry fled her forced “marriage” and became an adept–pledging her power to the greatest good. When Kethry obtains a magical sword which draws her to others in need, the two vow to avenge the wrongs done to womanhood.

Ohh boy did I not like this one. Oathbound is a collection of short stories stuck together to look like a novel. Which I didn’t really mind in itself as it’s a bunch of small-scale adventures with loose connections and a more climatic story at the end. That’s unusual but not my problem with the book. My problem was that there was one aspect that was very uncomfortable and weird to read, and it just kept getting worse and worse. 

The main characters are two oathbound women, a fighter and mage, doing various mercenary jobs. They’ve got a magical sword that makes them protect women and draws them to women in danger. They make an interesting pair, contrasting and balancing each other out in so many things. There’s also a really cool animal companion. So far so good. But the stories are also kind of revenge fantasies, and I could not deal with how this revenge was achieved. 

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I’m not entirely sure I want to continue with this subseries, not right away for sure, it just left such yuck. 

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

‘Holy wood is a different sort of place. People act differently here. Everywhere else the most important things are gods or money or cattle. Here, the most important thing is to be important.’


People might say that reality is a quality that things possess in the same way that they possess weight. Sadly alchemists never really held with such a quaint notion. They think that they can change reality, shape it to their own purpose. Imagine then the damage that could be wrought if they get their hands on the ultimate alchemy: the invention of motion pictures, the greatest making of illusions. It may be a triumph of universe-shaking proportions. It’s either that or they’re about to unlock the dark terrible secret of the Holy Wood hills – by mistake…

I’m comfort-rereading the Discworld series, a book every few months. Although Moving Pictures features none of my main favorite characters, I like the idea of it a lot. “What if the Discworld started shooting movies”  it’s a lot of fun, and I always love how Pratchett gives real-world concepts a magical, sometimes sinister, spin. The story is also very isolated and self-contained, I think you could probably read it anytime in the series. 

There was one beloved character that I was frankly surprised to be so happy to see: Cut-Me-Own-Throat-Dibbler! He’s usually off to the side, selling whatever he’s calling food at the moment, but here he’s more of a main player, one of Holy Wood’s movers and shakers. And it was kinda great seeing his entrepreneurial success. 

I’ve forgotten about the chapter-less structure and between that and my lack of attachment to the main leads, I read this pretty slowly, just a few pages here and there. It was still lots of fun and comfy to read, but not among my favorites.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash by Yahtzee Croshaw

With the age of heroic star pilots and galactic villains completely killed by quantum teleportation, the ex-star pilot currently named Dashford Pierce is struggling to find his identity in a changing universe.

Then, a face from his past returns and makes him an offer he can’t refuse: take part in just one small, slightly illegal, heist, and not only will he have the means to start the new life he craves, but also save his childhood hero from certain death.

What could go wrong? If you need to ask–you don’t know Dashford Pierce.

Before long, Pierce is surrounded by peril, and forced to partner with the very same supervillains he’d spent his heroic career thwarting. But when he’s confronted by the uncomfortable truth that star pilots might not have been the force for good, they had intended to be, he begins to wonder if the villains hadn’t had the right idea all along…

I picked this up when I needed a light, fun easy to follow listen, and it delivered. It’s a quick comedy, a sequel that is kind to the reader and didn’t expect me to remember anything from the first book. The narration was as fun and one-man-show as Yahtzee’s other books. 

The story takes a more critical look at heroes and star pilots, the MC having a bit of a breakdown when he asks himself “are we the baddies?” The characters are a bit meh, they’re all based around jokes and though they have some nuance I wasn’t exactly impressed. The plot is fun, a heist that goes consistently from bad to worse.