Welcome back for another batch of mini-reviews. I almost daren’t say it, but I’m almost caught up!

Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth #2) by N.K. Jemisin

• Genre: Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: August 18th 2016 by Orbit
• Format: Print
• Pages: 41
• Goodreads link, storygraph link

This is the way the world ends… for the last time. The season of endings grows darker as civilization fades into the long cold night. Alabaster Tenring – madman, world-crusher, savior – has returned with a mission: to train his successor, Essun, and thus seal the fate of the Stillness forever. It continues with a lost daughter, found by the enemy. It continues with the obelisks, and an ancient mystery converging on answers at last. The Stillness is the wall which stands against the flow of tradition, the spark of hope long buried under the thickening ashfall. And it will not be broken.

Why I picked it up: I loved The Fifth Season so was excited to continue, and Thistle & Verse’s readalong this summer was the perfect opportunity!

I wanted to start with “I loved being back in this world” but that’s not really it, seeing as the world in question is ending and all. But I was happy to be reading this again. Book 2 really digs deep into the way this world works. It shows us a lot of what was hidden and reveals how few things are as they seemed.

It’s been a while since I’ve felt this way, but I was very drawn into the worldbuilding here. There are still some huge questions left, but the more we learned the more into it I was. I love how certain character’s and instituions’ motivations are suddenly thrown into question. We learn more about orogeny and how powerful it can truly be. I liked how there’s joy and terror in that discovery. This really scale up, which is saying something seeing as how we started with the world ending. the bits of history that we got to learn are great.

We get a new PoV character, Nassun, and I while loved her chapters, they also gave me such mixed feelings. For one thing she gave me lots of angst, cause the reader knows a lot more than her about the people she’s trusting. So that was very “oh no no no”. And we also get to see her relationship with Essun from the other perspective, and I think seeing her as a mother did more to my image of her than seeing the chaos she had previously unleashed.

Despite there being more people, I think we get a couple other short PoVs, the book also feels more settled than book one, like the calm before the storm. Most of the time Essun is stuck in Castrima and there’s a lot of anticipating and working towards stuff while there are many looming threats.

Even with everything we get to learn, I’m left with so many questions and eager to see what happens next. There’s so much tension built. Only I also don’t feel ready for this series to end quite yet.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: backlist, trans character

Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron

• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: May 5th 2020 by Aaron/Bach
• Format: Audiobook
• Pages: 397
• Goodreads link, storygraph link

They say family always sticks together, but when you’re your dad’s only lifeline and the whole world—humans, dragons, and gods—wants you dead, “family bonding” takes on a whole new meaning. My name is Opal Yong-ae, and I’m in way over my head. I thought getting rid of my dad’s bad luck curse would put things back to normal. Instead, I’m stuck playing caretaker to the Great Dragon of Korea. That wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t such a jerk, or if every dragon on the planet wasn’t out to kill him, or if he was my only problem. Turns out, things can always get worse in the DFZ. When a rival spirit attacks my god/boss with the aim of turning the famously safety-optional city into a literal death arena with Nik as his bloody champion, I’m thrust onto the front lines and way out of my comfort zone. When gods fight, mortals don’t usually survive, but I’m not alone this time. Even proud old dragons can learn new tricks, and with everything I love falling to pieces, the father I’ve always run from might just be the only force in the universe stubborn enough to pull us back together.

Why I picked it up: Another case of continuing the series

This series is just so fun and easy reading. It had a lot of action and dragons but also feels and family time. Balanced the high tension times with the aww times and the fun times really well. I think my favorite parts are probably around Opal’s job, it would be just a dream getting to spend all day sorting for antiques and fun items. If you liked the other books in the series/setting def. try this one too, it . Looks like this is the last book in the DFZ series, though I hope there will be more in this setting and style.

The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock

• Genre: Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: 1970
• Format: Print
• Pages: 484
• Goodreads link

John Daker dreams of other worlds, and a name: Erekosë. He finds the strength to answer the call, travelling to a strange land ruled by the aging King Rigenos of Necranal. Humanity is united in a desperate fight against the inhuman Eldren, and he must fight with them. But the actions of his brethren turns his loyalties, and as Erekosë he will take a terrible revenge.

Why I picked it up: Jonbob’s review of the Elric books sparked my interest and I found this at a used book shop. I didn’t realize it was the first (by the US reading order) in The Eternal Champion series, so that worked out well

I ended up liking this more than I thought I would, and it was very different from what I was expecting. For one thing it’s very introspective, a lot of time is spent in Erekose’s head as he tries to figure out what’s up with him and how he feels about everything that’s going on. And while there is a copius of bloodshed, with the exception of one cool ship to ship battle, most of it is told as a … slaughter montage, if you will, it all goes down very quickly compared to the time spent planning. There’s not that much action, more pondering than anything. This had a strange sort of dampening and distancing effect on me, where the big horrors seems more removed than the small ones.

I’ve seen discussion about Morcook being a precursor of grimdark, and honestly the events of this book are so dark, “precursor” what?
View Spoiler » Almost entirely elminating one species, and then entirely eliminating the other? I struggle to think of darker. The humans were colossal assholes in this book so I was really happy when things turned around. And surprised, because I thought humans as the baddie invaders was a more recent trope, guess it’s been around a while. Also, have you ever been so desperate to save your relationship that you *checks notes* lead a campaign of carnage to exterminate a people? And then decided your gf’s really not that great and turned around and exterminated her people? No? Only Erekose? « Hide Spoiler
Ok that’s gotten the spoilers out of my system. Snark aside I thought the whole thing worked oddly well. The reason it problably didn’t bother me as much as usual, was that all the dark stuff wasn’t really graphic.

It took me a fair bit longer than I was expecting to get through such a short book. I was braced for it to feel dated, so I was kinda surprised to find certain ideas, often considered fresh nowadays, in a 50 year old book. The grey and darker grey morality of … everyone in this book, for one thing. I might even be curious enough to read more, and I certainly see why it’s considered influential.

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

• Genre: Fantasy
• Age group: Young Adult
• Pub. date: August 25th 2020 by Levine Querido
• Format: Print
• Pages: 362
• Goodreads link

Imagine an America very similar to our own. It’s got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream.

There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day.

Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.

Why I picked it up: Mainly for the Hugo readalong, also I was told there would be ghost dog, and the hardback with the illustrations is really lovely.

I enjoyed this so much. As promised there is a ghost dog who does tricks and is cute. There is a male best friend who’s a cheerleader, not something I’ve commonly seen. There’s a YA protagonist that has a supportive family. Awesome family legends. I found Ellie quite atypical for YA protagonists and I loved that, both in her lack of romantic interest and because when she has a problem she actually talks to her parents about it. Very refreshing.

I also loved the world, the slightly different America in the story and how native and colonial magics mingled. It was sort of close to urban fantasy, with different sorts of magical creatures, but also pretty unique. Native and family legends were interwoven into the story in a way I thought worked well.

Overall it was very fun, especially the big showdown part. I really liked all the main characters. It strongly got me in the feels, even though I knew where things where going at one point, still got me good.

I’ve seen a lot of people say it feels on the young side of YA to them, that’s not something I personally noticed or minded, but it comes up so much I thought I’d mention it.

r/fantasy Bingo squares: book club or readalong

Child of the Daystar by Bryce O’Connor

• Genre: Fantasy
• Age group: Adult
• Pub. date: November 15th 2015
• Format: Audiobook
• Pages: 282
• Goodreads link

Among the scattered fringe cities bordering the Cienbal desert, the true name of the Monster of Karth is spoken only in whispers…

RAZ I’SYUL ARRO.

A sellsword of the utmost caliber, Raz is a killer of paramount skill and highest regard. Towering tall even amongst the atherian, he is the only of his kind to live free in the “civilized” confines of mankind’s varied cultures. He has no need of loyalties, his sole affections pledged to the gold crowns that buy his time and skills. Wed to his blades, Raz’s only friends are the Moon and Her Stars and the shadows they bring with the night.

But Raz was not born to the mercenary’s way, to the butchery and battle of day-by-day survival. Raz, like a sword, was hammered from steel and fire and ashy smoke, forged on the ruins of an old life.

And Raz knows who he owes this new path to, this carved way of blood and iron. The Monster of Karth, after all, would never forget who gave him that name.

And some debts can’t be paid in gold…

Why I picked it up: I had a dragon person on the cover. I love dragon people.

I admit this had me in the begining but it lost me in the second half. The part I liked has  young lizard/dragon boy learning to fit in with a bunch of humans that belong to a sort of travelling merchant culture. The part I was just completely uninterested in was when he’s an adult and sort of a mercenary, but he’s conflicted about all the murderning and does a lot of planning revenge and yeah that’s alright just very much not my thing.

The world is cool, very detailed, and we’ve got a non-human protagonist which I always like. I liked how he had a special kind of fighting style and had to make all sorts of adjustments to things designed for humans. The world feels big, and a lot of stuff feels like setup for a big series. I don’t think I’ll be continuing myself, but if you’re looking for a cool world with a non-human MC that’s a good selling point, cause it seems like shit will get epic.

I listened to the audiobook version and the narration was mostly fine, except for a few accents that the narrator was trying for and felt too forced for me. Those kinda took me out of the book a few times.