Mini reviews – Black Sun, The Left Hand of Darkness, Abhorsen, The Legends of the First Empire, Too Like the Lightning, Piranesi, The Relentless Moon, Season of the Witch

12:44 pm | August 25, 2021 | Comments 5

Here I am again, just a woman, sitting in from of her PC, trying to catch up with her pile of unwritten reviews by writing a mini-review post. One day I might accept that catching up will never happen, but not today.

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

A god will return When the earth and sky converge Under the black sun In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain. Crafted with unforgettable characters, Rebecca Roanhorse has created an epic adventure exploring the decadence of power amidst the weight of history and the struggle of individuals swimming against the confines of society and their broken pasts in the most original series debut of the decade.

Why I picked it up: Been meaning to read it for ages cause of the Pre-Colombian setting and it was part of our Hugo Readalong on r/fantasy

I was super excited for this and it lived up to expectations. I loved the world, it felt like epic fantasy, which I haven’t really been in love with lately. There are different cultures each with their own gods and religions and there’s omnious change about. There’s also the good old journey half across the world in a hurry, this time across a large body of water which was neat, some interesting challenges there.

The chapters jump back and forth a fair bit, in print it was very easy to keep track off because everything is counting down to an event. It did sometimes mess with the tension a bit, going from x day before to x years before, but the years before chapters were interesting in themselves. It’s a very readable book, it sucked me in and kept me interested all through.

There are 4 PoV characters, but one has a comparatively small slice. My favorite is Xiala, a sailor who seems to always be getting in trouble. Mystery boy Serapio is my second favorite, and these two really carried the book. The 3rd PoV provides a lot of context to the current political situation, but I didn’t find her as gripping at the other two.

Structurally, it is very much a first book in a series, I didn’t really mind that, and still loved it, but if you tend to mind such things probably best to wait for book 2, which is set to come out in April 2022 (next year, if time has also ceased to make sense to you).

r/fantasy Bingo squares: Book club / readalong, Revenge, Trans or Nonbinary Characters

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose – and change – their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

Why I picked it up: I’d actually bought this a while back, Le Guin being at the top of the very long list of authors I somehow missed until my late 20s. Finally got round to it now because it was a Classics? Book Club Pick on r/fantasy.

I always enjoy Le Guin, but I find her style slow to read. This even doubly so, since it’s a very wintery book, the planet it’s set on is even called Winter, and I was reading it at the height of summer, not exactly a beach read.

So anyway, it’s an interesting exploration of a non-binary society. In a way it is  dated, though even so it makes sense in the book itself. Pretty sure it would be written differently now, and you can find more contemporary books on the theme. As it is, it stood out to me more as an exploration of life in a world that’s so cold and with different flora and fauna (there’s a very neat realization about how that impact’s people’s thoughts) than of gender. I really liked the different kinds of political games the people on this world play. I cannot understate how cold it was. Dress warmly while reading.

Overall I liked it and do recommend, maybe more for the coldness and the challenge of being a solo ambassador to people so different for your own.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: 1st person, Book Club, first contact

Abhorsen (The Old Kingdom #2) by Garth Nix

The Ninth was strong and fought with might But lone Orannis was put out of the light Broken in two and buried under hill Forever to lie there, wishing us ill. So says the song. But Orannis, the Destroyer, is no longer buried under hill. It has been freed from its subterranean prison and now seeks to escape the silver hemispheres, the final barrier to the unleashing of its terrible powers. Only Lirael, newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, has any chance of stopping the Destroyer. She and her companions — Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget — have to take that chance. For the Destroyer is the enemy of all Life, and it must be stopped, though Lirael does not know how. To make matters worse, Sam’s best friend, Nick, is helping the Destroyer, as are the necromancer Hedge and the Greater Dead Chlorr, and there has been no word from the Abhorsen Sabriel or King Touchstone. Everything depends upon Lirael. A heavy, perhaps even impossible burden for a young woman who just days ago was merely a Second Assistant Librarian. With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her, and the rather mixed help of her companions, Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the Destroyer. Before it is too late. . . .

Why I picked it up: I loved the first books, Sabriel, and though Lirael was ok, so of course I want to read the conclusion! Also counts as progress towards my finish some series goal!

Definitely a step up from the pacing in Lirael, there’s far more danger and tension right from the start, but I don’t think my heart is in this series anymore. I think it’s just a very strong case of my liking the MC in the first book and not getting used to the other ones. Cause they’re fine, they’re fine, but they’re not her. I did enjoy the book a lot more that Lirael, it was truly intense and suspenful, and we had more characters to follow.

I am still here for the Disreputable Dog and Mogget, and I loved how we got a little more backstory there in this book. I loved the way everything ended up coming to a head.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: not sure it fits any well

Age of Myth and Age of Swords (The Legends of the First Empire #1 and 2) by Michael J. Sullivan

Age of Myth inaugurates another six-book series set in Elan. Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between humans and those they thought were gods changes forever. Now only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer; Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom; and Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people. The Age of Myth is over. The time of rebellion has begun.

Why I picked it up: I had these on my audible account from some sales years ago, finally got round to them, look at me actually reading what I own!

These get a meh from me. I really enjoy the Riyria series, but what made that series was the two main characters and the relationship between them. Here that magic is missing. The characters are alright, but they’re all a little too much, too creative, too good at adapting, too much wiser that everyone around them. They’re nice people, just not Royce and Hadrian.  But that wasn’t my main problem.

I’ve seen this recced a lot as a book with a Bronze Age setting. And it seemed like it was just wasting the setting to me. It’s a case of not being the book I wanted to read. Instead of how people with that level of technology would’ve handled stuff, a lot of the challenges are solved by inventing (or borrowing) new tech, in a very short amount of time, by less than a handful of people. My suspension of disbelief reached its limit pretty quickly.

I also found Tim Gerard Reynold’s narration pretty darn slow, I started enjoying the books a lot more once I turned the speed up.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re not terrible, there are some really cool bits with elves and dwarves, and some things tying back to the events in Rirya, they just didn’t balance out the pet pevees I didn’t even know I had.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: backlist, revenge, ____ of ____

Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer

Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer–a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away. The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labeling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world’s population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life. And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life…

Why I picked it up: Mod book club, but mainly because of Para from To Other Worlds’ great review and enthusiastic screaming

I had no clue what was going on for most of this book, but I loved it. And whever I was getting the hang of things it threw a new shocking twist that I could also kinda have seen coming maybe if I’d been able to keep track of things.

So this book is strange, it’s set in the future but told as if from the past, in an 18th century inspired style. The narrator is very actively involved in the telling, not only speaking directly to the reader, but imagining our responses and objections. I love that sort of personal style of storytelling so enjoyed it here too.

The characters are such a weird bunch, that even though it took me a good long while to get the hang of them, it was a fun journey. I loved the mix of past and present, even though I could only get few references. It was there in the style, the clothing, some other stuff further into the book. Some parts are just plain fun, like how there are a couple of people everyone thirsts after.

I loved how different the society is, top to bottom it’s organized completely differently, family units, political units, religion. Despite the pretty wide cast though we only get to see the top, I wonder if the next books expand on that.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: First Person POV (potentially hard mode), Book Club, New to You Author, Revenge-Seeking Character (potentially Tully Mardi), Mystery Plot (hard mode), Genre Mashup, Debut Author (hard mode), Chapter Titles, Trans Character, I’m pretty sure Dominic qualifies

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

Why I picked it up: For the Hugo readalong on r/fantasy

I loved this, but I dunno how to talk about it, because it’s so mysterious and strange, I don’t want to give anything away. It’s dripping with atmosphere, and for me at least it was very easy to picture and feel all of the aspects of the house. It’s also a very quick read. I wasn’t a huge fan of one aspect, but even with that I enjoyed it immensly and would rec to anyone.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: Bookclub or Readalong (HM if you join in here!), Chapter Titles (HM), First Person POV, Mystery,

Season of the Witch by Sarah Rees Brennan

From the creator of RIVERDALE comes the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a new NETFLIX series based on the classic Archie comic series. This prequel YA novel tells an all-new, original story. It’s the summer before her sixteenth birthday, and Sabrina Spellman knows her world is about to change. She’s always studied magic and spells with her aunts, Hilda and Zelda. But she’s also lived a normal mortal life – attending Baxter High, hanging out with her friends Susie and Roz, and going to the movies with her boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle. Now time is running out on her every day, normal world, and leaving behind Roz and Susie and Harvey is a lot harder than she thought it would be. Especially because Sabrina isn’t sure how Harvey feels about her. Her cousin Ambrose suggests performing a spell to discover Harvey’s true feelings. But when a mysterious wood spirit interferes, the spell backfires in a big way. Sabrina has always been attracted to the power of being a witch. But now she can’t help wondering if that power is leading her down the wrong path. Will she choose to forsake the path of lightand follow the path of night?

Why I picked it up: another mod is a big fan of the series, and it turned out to be just the fun comfy read I needed

This was lots of fun, a prequel to the TV show, I picked it up when I needed a light easy read and I think I read it in one of two sittings. It focusses on fleshing out some of the characters that don’t get so much time in the show. Which is great on one side cause we get to know them, Tommy is a precious and the star of this book, but on the other hand I missed the main gang, so I wasn’t that connected to Sabrina’s struggle. Not sure if this translates to ebook or audioversions, but the ebook copy was cool, the chapters that weren’t from Sabrina’s PoV, that were filling in gaps or being omnious, we printed on black pages with white text. A bit of squinting required but I thought it was fun.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: new to me, witches, comfort read

The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut Universe #3) by Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal continues her award-winning Lady Astronaut series, which began with The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky, with The Relentless Moon. The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

Why I picked it up: Both because I loved the first in the series, and to discuss with the Hugo readalong

I was already a big fan of this series, but wow this entry was even better. I kept thinking about it for weeks after reading. Relentless is a good title for it because it does not let up and it was relentless with my heart.

It changes PoV from Elma to Nicole, and I was worried I’d have my usual trouble with this, but Nicole was so easy to fall in love with. And even though it takes place around the same time as The Fated Sky, I never felt a lack of tension cause of knowing stuff from the other book (but also left a year and a half gap between them, so probably forgot some detalis).

Because Nicole’s husband is in politics, I liked how the book balanced out the small picture figuring out the mystery at the moon colony, with the big picture of people’s feelings at home, politics and all. I’d say the main plot is a thriller/mystery thing, and I just found that so satysfyingly told.

This is currently my favorite of the Hugo nominees.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: First Person POV; Mystery Plot (HM); Cat Squasher, Genre Mash-Up

 

Comments

  1. Lexlingua says:
    August 25, 2021 at 4:58 pm

    I too have been struggling with epic fantasy lately, not sure if it’s because I’ve been overdosing? I read Piranesi earlier this year, and it was fabulous. I was thinking about it for days after. It’s such a short book but packs such a punch!

    Reply
    1. Dianthaa says:
      August 26, 2021 at 8:31 am

      I think I overdosed on epic fantasy a few years ago and I still haven’t fully recovered :)) Though I’ve been a lot better about mixing up subgenres to avoid this now

      Reply
      1. Lexlingua says:
        August 28, 2021 at 7:50 pm

        That’s a very good suggestion. I’ve actually taken to reading Jane Austen fanfiction to get over the SFF slump.

        Reply
  2. Gofita says:
    August 29, 2021 at 10:56 pm

    Love these mini reviews. I’m wanting to pick some of these up! I’ve got a few on my list and now want to start them. I started Piranesi but then the library needed it back. I’ll have to try again. It didn’t quite hold my attention. But it’s a quick read so I should just stick with it.

    Reply
  3. Pingback: Sordaneon By L.L. Stephans - Can't Wait Wednesday - Excerpt - Dianthaa Dabbles

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