What’s this? Another month where I manage to get up to date with my reviews at the last minute? I’m calling that a win

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells

• Genre:  Sci Fi
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: 27 April 2021
• Format: Ebook – thanks to the publisher for the ARC, this does not affect my review
• Pages: 176
• Goodreads link

No, I didn’t kill the dead human. If I had, I wouldn’t dump the body in the station mall.

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

Again!

MURDERBOT! Murderbot continues to be great. This story is set before Network Effect and it’s a contained one-shot murder mystery. Seeing Murderbot investigate was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the mystery itself a lot, and how MB ended up in both familiar and new situations, how it navigated its new role and freedom.

I listened to all the previous ones in audiobook and this was the first I read with my eyes. I really loved all of Murderbot’s asides. They kinda stood out more and it made it even more relatable because that constant going off on a tangent and eye-rolling is stuff is exactly how I think/write. But that also meant I was a little confused about which characters were new and which I should already know.

The story is set on Preservation Station and I loved seeing a non-corporation place. And the book does a good job of highlighting differences and showing some more worldbuilding that I was oh so hungry for.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: 1st person, mystery, published in 2021

Imaro by Charles Saunders

• Genre: Fantasy – Sword and Sorcery
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: 1981
• Format: Audiobook
• Pages: 256
• Goodreads link

Imaro is a rousing adventure… a tale of a young man’s continuing struggle to gain acceptance amongst his people, and to break the cycle of alienation and violence that plagues his life.

Imaro is heroic fantasy like it’s never been done before. Based on Africa, and African traditions and legends, Charles Saunders has created Nyumbani (which means “home” in Swahili), an amalgam of the real, the semi-real, and the unreal. Imaro is the name of the larger-than-life warrior, an outcast, who travels across Nyumbani, searching for a home.

Like his contemporaries, Karl Edward Wagner (Kane) and Michael Moorcock (Elric), Charles Saunders brings something new to the traditional heroic fantasy tale. A broad knowledge of, and passion for, the history and myths of Africa led to the creation of a heroic fantasy character the likes of which the world has never seen. Imaro is no Tarzan… no Conan… Imaro is a warrior out of African legend.

Saunders’ novel fuses the narrative style of fantasy fiction with a pre-colonial, alternate Africa. Inspired by and directly addresses the alienation of growing up an African American fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which to this day remains a very ethnically homogonous genre. It addresses this both structurally (via its unique setting) and thematically (via its alienated, tribeless hero-protagonist). The tribal tensions and histories presented in this fantasy novel reflect actual African tribal histories and tensions, and provide a unique perspective to current and recent conflicts in Africa, particularly the Rwandan genocide and the ongoing conflict in The Sudan.

This was exactly what I wanted it to be. Fun, mysterious, an interesting world and a character I could root for. Imaro is big brawny and a good guy, he’s honorable, fair and very very strong. The novel is a bit episodic in the style of old S&S, but after the first half there’s less jumping from one adventure to the next. I think overall everything worked well together.

Really liked the world, as Imaro travels he meets different groups, clearly inspired by African cultures. They’re all distinct and I liked how he stops to think about cultural differences and how that affects things.

The sorcery part was probably my favorite. There isn’t a lot of it, but what there is is powerful, evil and scary. The sort of magic that comes with serious downsides and that most sensible people steer clear of. The atmosphere around it was so well done.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: A to Z guide HM, revenge HM,

The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg

• Genre: Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: September 1st 2020
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 192
• Goodreads link

Wind: To match one’s body with one’s heart
Sand: To take the bearer where they wish
Song: In praise of the goddess Bird
Bone: To move unheard in the night

The Surun’ do not speak of the master weaver, Benesret, who creates the cloth of bone for assassins in the Great Burri Desert. But Uiziya now seeks her aunt Benesret in order to learn the final weave, although the price for knowledge may be far too dear to pay.

Among the Khana, women travel in caravans to trade, while men remain in the inner quarter as scholars. A nameless man struggles to embody Khana masculinity, after many years of performing the life of a woman, trader, wife, and grandmother.

As the past catches up to the nameless man, he must choose between the life he dreamed of and Uiziya, and Uiziya must discover how to challenge a tyrant, and weave from deaths that matter.

Set in R. B. Lemberg’s beloved Birdverse.

This was April’s Mod Book Club pick, and I enjoyed it a lot, I’d been looking forward to reading it for a long time. I read it very slowly, especially for a novella, but that worked out well for me and I felt it suited the mood. I really liked the whole style and atmosphere, it felt magical to me and had that sort of, not really fairytale but old tale style and I love that. Everything had time to settle.

The main characters are two older trans people, and I just loved how they each had their own personal history. More older characters, please. Although there was some more epic stuff towards the end the story felt very personal to me. Everything was about these two people’s personal journeys, dealing with and confronting things from their pasts. The way different cultures related to gender was interesting and I was so happy for one of the main characters finally getting to feel good in his skin.

I felt like it had a lot more world than a novella usually does. There are different cultures and the world feels big and lived in. Well, not too big because the MCs have a very fast way to travel. There are some short stories that happen before and give more context. Others mentioned they were kinda confused and wished they’re read the stories, personally, I didn’t mind it, I dunno if I was just well braced enough but I wasn’t confused at all. I’d still like to read them because I’m very drawn to this world.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: Trans or Nonbinary Character HM

Elemental by Whitney Hill

• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: June 23rd 2020
• Format: Ebook
• Pages: 308
• Goodreads link

Enter an urban fantasy world where elves, vampires, weres, djinn, and others maintain a precarious balance of power in North Carolina. Welcome to Otherside.

Private investigator and sylph Arden Finch is determined to come out of the shadows and practice her forbidden magic. There’s just one problem: the elves have a bounty on elementals like her.

When an elf hires Arden without realizing what she is, she seizes the chance to gain leverage in the dangerous world of Otherside⁠-even if it means risking exposure. But as the case grows more perilous, Arden draws the attention of the region’s deadliest power players.

Fans of Kim Harrison, Faith Hunter, and the early Anita Blake series will find a kick-ass heroine to love in Arden.

Content warnings: swearing, light consensual sex, physical violence, death, slurs (not toward any real racial or ethnic group/identity), threat of sexual violence.

This book has an everything and the kitchen sink approach to urban fantasy worldbuilding. The Otherside includes werewolves, vampires, djinn, elementals, people that we’re not even sure about and elves. Apparently, I cannot deal with elves and vampires in the same world, I associate them with the same sort of stuff and glitch when I try to picture them in the same setting. I think that was the main reason I didn’t click with this book, it was always “fine” and only at the very end did I get more into it. That said, it has a lot going for it and if you’re into UF and don’t have its one hangup you might like it a lot more than I did.

Arden, the main character is easy to root for. She’s a Private Investigator and she just wants to be left alone to do her job but people keep dragging her into dangerous business. The part that I liked was learning about all the different factions and their histories and relationships. There was also a lot of untangling webs of lies and half-truths, but I felt like that part was a bit slow and repetitive. So the first half or so was pretty slow, and then the last half got more interesting as Arden was over some stuff.

I might still end up reading the next one because the ending was wild, and the set-up for the next book is great. Not in the cliffhanger sense just that I want to see how this changed state works out.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: Mystery, debut