Almost fell behind on my reviews this month, and I forgot to take notes for a bunch of these, but with this post of mini-teeny reviews, I’m back on track!

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

• Genre: Historical Fantasy, Fairy tale, Romance
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: March 29th 2020
• Format:  Ebook
• Pages: 260
• Goodreads link

It’s difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since a faerie cursed her, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear, embarrassment, or even happiness—a condition which makes her sadly prone to accidental scandal. Dora’s only goal for the London Season this year is to stay quiet and avoid upsetting her cousin’s chances at a husband… but when the Lord Sorcier of England learns of her condition, she finds herself drawn ever more deeply into the tumultuous concerns of magicians and faeries.

Lord Elias Wilder is handsome, strange, and utterly uncouth—but gossip says that he regularly performs three impossible things before breakfast, and he is willing to help Dora restore her missing half. If Dora’s reputation can survive both her ongoing curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world… but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

Pride and Prejudice meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this enthralling historical fantasy romance, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mama. Pick up Half a Soul, and be stolen away into debut author Olivia Atwater’s charming, magical version of Regency England!

This was a HEA bookclub read and it was delightful. Short, sweet, funny, charming, everything I look for in a Romance novel, I couldn’t put it down. The dynamic between the romantic leads is so fun and bantery, I couldn’t get enough of them. I loved the way only having half a soul affected Dora, she was still sweet but very emotionally detached from everything. And of course, what made her awkward in society made her a perfect match for the love interest, cause she wasn’t taking any of his bullshit. The book also featured faeries, which I always love. I liked how even though it’s a fluffy romance, it didn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the times, and how that was something that brought the main couple together. I was very happy with how the book tied up loose ends for the secondary characters too.

Recommended for: Fans of histrom fantasy looking for a quick read with good banter

r/fantasy bingo: Book club, Self published, Published in 2020, Romantic Fantasy, Canadian Author

Root Magic by Eden Royce

• Genre: Historical Fantasy
• Age group:  Middle Grade
• Pub. date: January 5th 2021
• Format:  Audiobook
• Pages: 352
• Goodreads link

A historical ghost story set in South Carolina in the 1960s—a tale of courage, friendship, and Black Girl Magic.

It’s 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven—and their uncle, Doc, tells them he’s going train them in rootwork.

Jez and Jay have always been fascinated by the African American folk magic that has been the legacy of her family for generations—especially the curious potions and powders Doc and Gran would make for the people on their island. But Jez soon finds out that her family’s true power goes far beyond small charms and elixirs…and not a moment too soon. Because when evil both natural and supernatural comes to show itself in town, it’s going to take every bit of the magic she has inside her to see her through.

First a note on the audiobook. When I started this, I loved the narrator Imani Parks so much that I immediately bought Amari and the Nightbrothers just to have more books read by her. (I had it on my TBR but not in the immediate section). I dunno how to describe voices though, I just loved it.

I read this for the Blackathon spirituality prompt and it turned out to be a great fit because it explored those themes a lot. My favorite parts were about Gullah culture and Root Magic. Jez is just now learning about Root, and I loved getting that knowledge, and also learning about the monsters and creatures she met. I’d gladly read more of that any day (yes give me recs pls)

It was pretty creepy for a children’s book, there are monsters, ghosts and dangers. Root Magic does not shy away from dealing with tough stuff. The story starts with the kid’s grandma dying and I couldn’t help but feel for them. There was also a sinister threat of violence from the beginning.

I thought the relationship between the twins Jez and Jay was very well done, the way they are growing up and growing apart in some ways, and how staying close is not always easy. We only get Jez’s perspective on things, and she was really going through a lot, and isolated at school, and that played into how her thoughts about her brother changed.

Recommended for: middle-grade fans, but also anyone looking for fantasy exploring some less-commonly-written-about magic cultures

r/fantasy Bingo squares: ghost, audiobook

Midnight Blue-Light Special (InCryptid #2) by Seanan McGuire

• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: March 5th 2013
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 338
• Goodreads link

Cryptid, noun:
1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983.
2. That thing that’s getting ready to eat your head.
3. See also: “monster.”

The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity–and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she’d rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and when her work with the cryptid community took her to Manhattan, she thought she would finally be free to pursue competition-level dance in earnest. It didn’t quite work out that way…

But now, with the snake cult that was killing virgins all over Manhattan finally taken care of, Verity is ready to settle down for some serious ballroom dancing—until her on-again, off-again, semi-boyfriend Dominic De Luca, a member of the monster-hunting Covenant of St. George, informs her that the Covenant is on their way to assess the city’s readiness for a cryptid purge. With everything and everyone she loves on the line, there’s no way Verity can take that lying down.

Alliances will be tested, allies will be questioned, lives will be lost, and the talking mice in Verity’s apartment will immortalize everything as holy writ–assuming there’s anyone left standing when all is said and done. It’s a midnight blue-light special, and the sale of the day is on betrayal, deceit…and carnage.

After pandemic brain really got to me this month, I needed something easy to follow and fast to read. It delivered. They’re good popcorn reads for me, not that they lack substance, but that I can turn off my brain and enjoy the fun. Sometimes you just need one simple single PoV story with clear baddies, fashionable monsters, a supportive family and cute mice. And the Aesling are just great, love them. The Price family dynamic is, as always, lots of fun, and the little bits of wisdom from each chapter’s epigraph made me giggle.

Book 2 is a solid sequel, more getting to know the characters from book one, new dangers, rooftop chasing, some relationship developments, raising some stakes, good fun all around.

Recommended for: fans of urban fantasy looking for fun reads (and that have already read 1 book I guess, it wouldn’t be a good starting point)

r/fantasy Bingo squares: magical pet (companion) H, made me laugh, epigraphs H,

Un fel de spatiu by Ion Hobana

• Genre: Sci-Fi  Short Stories
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: June 26th 2015 by Nemira (first published January 1st 1982)
• Format: Print
• Pages: 200
• Goodreads link

Din lutul amforelor de odinioara un mecanism extrage vocile si cantecele inregistrate ale atlantilor. Un vehicul submarin coboara la adancimi mari si e atacat de o creatura dintr-o specie necunoscuta. Planeta originilor, unde peisajele sunt cele mai frumoase din Univers, ramane destinatia ultima… Povestirile lui Ion Hobana ii ofera o multime de surprize placute cititorului de azi.

„Am inteles ca totul fusese o inscenare. Exploratorul Timpului nu vedea din trecut, ci din viitor. Luase infatisarea eroului lui Wells pentru a stabili mai usor contactul cu o lume care s-a obisnuit sa vada implinindu-se anticipatiile din carti. Mi-ar fi destainuit probabil secretul, daca aventura mea nu l-ar fi avertizat ca trecutul poate deveni un labirint fara iesire.“
Ion Hobana

I didn’t end up finishing this, but I still wanted to talk about it for a little bit. For one thing, two of the short stories were published in international anthologies in the 80s, so that’s pretty nifty. And for another, the text had been updated in 2009 for a contemporary audience. So it was interesting to read stories initially written many years ago, including references to mobile phones and recently published books.

The reason I ended up not finishing was because I hadn’t realized it was a collection of short stories from the beginning, and I’m so rarely in the mood for them. I liked the first set of stories, called “a different kind of space” which was focused on underwater monsters and anomalies. I loved seas and oceans portrayed as alien spaces. I found those interesting and immersive. But then when the next set switched to actual outer space I would’ve wanted more underwater action and lost interest.

Recommended for: people who can read in Romanian are in interested in older sci fi short stories

The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull

• Genre:  Near-future Sci-Fi
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: June 18th 2019
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 286
• Goodreads link

THE LESSON explores the nature of belief, the impact of colonialism, and asks how far are we willing to go for progress? Breaking ground as one of the first science fiction novels set in the Virgin Islands, THE LESSON is not only a thought-provoking literary work, delving deeply into allegorical themes of colonialism, but also vividly draws the community of Charlotte Amalie, wherefrom the author hails.

An alien ship rests over Water Island. For five years the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands have lived with the Ynaa, a race of super-advanced aliens on a research mission they will not fully disclose. They are benevolent in many ways but meet any act of aggression with disproportional wrath. This has led to a strained relationship between the Ynaa and the local Virgin Islanders and a peace that cannot last. A year after the death of a young boy at the hands of an Ynaa, three families find themselves at the center of the inevitable conflict, witness and victim to events that will touch everyone and teach a terrible lesson.

This wasn’t a great fit for me, because I think it’s got a more literary writing style than what pandemic brain could handle. It builds a picture by showing stories from multiple characters from the same family/social circle. Which made for an interesting picture that just didn’t click so well for me. Another thing was that I read it after a bunch of sci-fi books, and I was a little tired of the genre and aliens. It’s also, in some ways, more brutal than what I tend to read.

The book itself is interesting, and at a better time we would’ve probably gotten along. Seeing aliens arrive in a Caribbean Island setting was fun, whenever aliens arrive somewhere other than London/New York I’m all for it (the concept, not these specific assholes). And I thought the story made good use of the island setting. The aliens were human-looking but very scary, much of book is spent trying to puzzle out why they’re here and that was a good mystery. Though I wasn’t invested all the way along, I thought the plot paid off very well and liked everything about the ending, even the nasty parts. I thought it was really cool that the book opens with the alien ship in the sky, and then jumps forward 5 years. So we don’t see all the usual first contact stuff, just what happens after humans have, mostly, adjusted to having them here.

Recommended for:

r/fantasy Bingo squares: