Speed-Reading Book Nerd Reviews

Blood Heir

By Ilona Andrews.

Previous book here. This book takes place eight years after the last one. 

Kate's daughter Julie has had A LOT OF CHANGES over the years since we last saw her. It's a long list:

• Turned 18.
• Got fed up on waiting around for her long time crush, Derek, to come around and want to be with her, so she left. 
• Ran off with her "grandmother" (guess who) to the West Coast to set up a new kingdom of New Shinar and has gotten very well schooled in being a princess. 
• Fought a regenerating bad guy, Moloch, so as to prevent him from murdering Kate, as is told he shall via prophecy.
• He took her eye, she took his and stuck it in her face...which caused her to have a drastic magical physical makeover. New Shinarian face, three inches taller, smells different, the works. Her memories and magic are the same, but even Julie doesn't know herself any more.
• Changed her name to Aurelia Ryder.

Julie hasn't seen Kate and Curran since her metamorphosis, and she's warned by her psychic friend not to see them unless she can thwart the prophecy. She returns to Atlanta to look into the murder of a good preacher who presumably had contact with a bad object, and poses as a member of the Order to do so. She rescues (or tries to) street kids, she checks on people, and she wonders what the heck is going on with Pack dynamics.

And then there's Derek, who just came back to town after a metamorphosis of his own: changed his name, moved to Alaska, became a lot less of a loner, we'll put it that way. This whammies Julie/Aurelia emotionally, but she can't let on, right?

Anyway, this is a quick, rollicking but intense magical mystery, though she's just getting started on thwarting the bad guy...I really enjoyed this overall. Figuring out New Julie/Aurelia--someone who's very comfortable with the whole Shinar thing and hanging around with her magical elder relatives is pretty intense change. I enjoyed her snark about her dagger and the name of it, though that seemed pretty Kate-ish too! 

I admit the one thing I feel like it's missing here (other than Kate and Curran, but there's reasons for them) is that I do kind of wish this new spinoff series did tell in more detail what Julie got up to in the last 8 years. There's enough exposition for you to get the drift, and for whatever reason the end of the book has several scenes explaining how Julie got from A to Z, but I'd read a prequel because man, JULIE HAS HAD SOME CHANGES. The whole "I am a princess of Shinar" dynamic is a huge change for her. She's generally sure of herself and good at scheming, and finds it uh....well, it's a challenge to interact with people that she used to know and whether or not they figure it out. 

I also wanted more Derek. There's finally some conversation about their feelings and life choices towards the end and I enjoyed/related to that, but for now it feels like that's going to be ....spaced out. Since this book has become an online hit, we'll get more of it, thank goodness. I always rooted for them to get together and I think it's time. Also, what's with his life choices of late? Gotta find out. 

Four stars. 

Revolutionary

By Colleen Cowley.

Previous book here. This review has to go below the spoiler cut. 4.5 stars.

Radical

By Colleen Cowley.

Previous book here. Pre the previous book, I need to put the review below the spoiler cut. Four stars, though.

Across The Green Grass Fields

By Seanan McGuire.

This is part of the Wayward Children series and introduces a new character/world. Previous book in the series can be found here. 

Regan is a horse-loving girl with a "best friend" who's one of those ah, bitchy/bully best friends. When everyone else is starting to hit puberty at age ten(!) and Regan well, isn't getting any boobs, her parents tell her she's intersex. They tell her that she's perfect. They do everything right (unlike, say, the Wolcott parents). Unfortunately, even though seriously, she should have known better even at age 10 (I was screaming!), Regan tells her "best friend," things go poorly, and she finds a door to run through.

Regan ends up in the Hooflands, a lovely place inhabited by (dumb, like chicken) unicorns, centaurs (who she gets adopted by), and other creatures. In their culture, when a human shows up, the human is destined to save the world. But Regan's not motivated to go find the Queen and do that right off, so she spends 5-6 years with her new centaur family, enjoying life. Eventually she sucks it up and goes to find destiny, which...well, that was definitely not what I expected, so that was some interesting twisting there. 

Reading these books, you know that Regan's going to end up going back home sometime or else she doesn't end up at the school. And man, I felt sorry for her for leaving, especially given her hormonal issues. She found a place that was home and loved her even when she was unusual, you know? 

Four stars. 

Subversive

By Colleen Cowley.

Holy shit, this author. After finishing this book, I went off and bought every other book she's written, which are also quite cheaply priced on Kindle. She even has helpful guides on her website about stuff that might bother you as to how well you can handle plot developments or not (trigger warning sort of thing) and freebies with her newsletter. 

This book takes place in an alternate universe where only men can do magic (supposedly) and women's rights have been pushed back a literal hundred years. This is addressed on her website. It feels like circa 1910--the wardrobe, the lack of technology, one character being referred to as a neo-suffragette--but when a character who's been spelled out as being 60 years old says that she was 10 years old in 1970, I was all, THIS TAKES PLACE IN 2020?!?! spittake. 

Beatrix Harper wishes she could do magic--enough to dress up as a boy at age 13 to get tested--but she didn't pass, of course. Her parents died when she was a teenager, leaving her to raise her baby sister Lydia alone and give up her own dreams of college and becoming a medical researcher--not that there's a lot of career options for women anyway. Lydia, at age 20, is a rabble-rouser running for president of the Women's League for the Prohibition of Magic, a feminist organization that both wants rights for women and to throw the magicians (called "omnimancers" here) out, as they now run everything. Of course they do. The Harpers run a boardinghouse where most of their residents are also in the movement, and Beatrix works at a grocery store, having never been able to leave her small town of Ellicott Mills her entire life.

Beatrix knew Peter Blackwell growing up--he was a bastard child/orphan, and Beatrix's mom denied him a scholarship for that. Luckily for him, he was magically gifted and ended up going to work for the government. However, he's quit his job, pleading that he's had a nervous breakdown, and fled back to Ellicott Mills, offering to do magic for the town. For free. And he straight up forces Beatrix to work for him. (He's paying her out of his savings.) 

Peter's not as bad as he sounds. He quit his job because BAD SHIT WAS HAPPENING at his work and he kind of acts like a man on the run and he definitely knows other omnimancers want to snoop on him. And he's up to things that might get him arrested, which means he needs to swear anyone involved with him into a vow of secrecy.. He needs help and he wants Beatrix for what he's doing after remembering her trying to get into the magic trials, because he knows a secret--that women can do magic, it's just that the government decided they didn't give a shit. To that end, he leaves temptations around the house hoping she'll get into magic, as well as a hidden camera. But when his little trap goes awry--he leaves a report on women in magic around and she immediately wants to copy it--well, he ends up swearing her to a vow of obedience, which horrifies the both of them. She in turn makes him swear that he's not after her sister or the League and not to harm them--and two magical vows sworn at the same time turns out to have a bonding effect on them, most notably making them share dreams. 

Anyway, Peter and Beatrix's relationship is complicated. He soon regrets the obedience vow and actually works to destroy it and revise the vow into something better. He also straight up helps Beatrix and the League when the League is screwed out of their conference space reservation...which turns out to be an even bigger mess when assassination is on the table. There's also some drama within the League, since Lydia is running for president and the household suspects that one of their membership is a spy for the government. Peter goes above and beyond, delightfully so, in helping these ladies even though it certainly seems like it would go against his interests. 

And while that's going on, discoveries abound enough that I'm going to have to put all other reviews below the spoiler cut. 

Overall, I'm really liking Peter and Beatrix's relationship. I love the Mindlink Mates trope quite a lot, even though this one has the added complication of "first we got bound under a really bad idea," and then when they replace the vows to something more amenable, there's enough changes going on to make P&B wonder if they are falling in love under magical influence when they might not have otherwise. In real life romance with Peter is a giant NOPE, YOU MADE ME OBEY YOU for Beatrix, even though she ends up liking him more later on--and she has a flirtation going with a rival government omnimancer,  Theo, who's investigating Peter. (Though Peter points out that Theo might not be as open-minded as he sounds. Oh yeah, and he's probably a spy/assassin.) But in their dreams, they are making with the wild magical sexy whoopee--and don't have to worry about a lack of illegal rubbers to boot there. But even without the magical bond, their relationship works--he respects her intelligence and her desires and he backs her up to the hilt whenever possible, and even though Beatrix is conflicted as shit about him, the same goes for her after a while. 

So, loving this. I'm gonna comment a bit below the spoiler space, but right now I'll leave it at 4.5 stars. This borders on epic and I'm expecting that future books will be. 

To Have and to Hoax

By Martha Waters.

I'm not sure I can write a review any better than the Smart Bitches one that sold me on reading the book, but I'll say some things.

Violet and James met when he was trying to save her from being "compromised" by his rake friend Jeremy. They fell instantly in love, which was great since they then got compromised and had to get married a whopping ten minutes into their acquaintance. (Seriously, the whole "compromised" thing in Regency books is ridiculous and this book does a great job of pointing that out.) They're one of those "fight a lot, make up a lot, bang a lot" couples, but overall it goes great for the first year. It's instalove, it's great.

(Disclaimer: I have spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find an explanation as to how "compromised" worked in the Regency era online and I AM FINDING EFFING NOTHING. This and this is as close as I've found. As far as I've ever deduced from reading Regency books over the years, "compromised" means that you MIGHT have had so much as the slightest bit of romantic/sexual contact with a guy, which means that YOU HAVE TO GET MARRIED IMMEDIATELY. Sure, sometimes you catch a couple making out, but they could be dancing (as in James and Violet's case), or even being caught alone with a man for 30 seconds seems to do it in these books. If you've had any contact alone with a guy, you marry him or you're a doomed whore, period. I seriously wonder if it was actually that bad back in the day or if that's just a convention of the romance novel tropes.) 

And then. Violet and James found out a BIG REVELATION that changes everything. And since Violet found it out slightly before James did, he gets the impression that she was involved, and he's mad at her, and then she's mad at him, and four years later they are basically in a quiet feud of a marriage. They admittedly got married at an immature age (18/23), but still.

When Violet gets a letter saying that James has hit his head falling off a horse--one of their perennial fights in the relationship is his running horse stables--she runs to go see him. And, well, he's fine. And cranky. And all "why did you even care in the first place?" This ticks Violet off no end and gives her the bright idea to let him see how it feels, but talking an actor into faking being a doctor who diagnoses her with consumption. Except James pretty much figures it out instantly and then does things like calling her awful mother to come over and nurse her. So basically they have a prank war going on, much to the eye-rolls of their friend group, who haven't been told what's going on. 

For the record, their friend group (for I think they will be in sequels are);

• Diana, a widow looking to get back into the boinking scene, later makes a bet with Jeremy about finding him a bride even though he's not interested in marriage at all
• Emily, who's still single and likely to be forced into an unhappy marriage
• Penvale, Diana's brother
• Jeremy, the aforementioned rake friend
• Julian, the aforementioned actor, seems to be interested in Emily
• West, James's older brother, who's kind of not in Dad's good books any more since he had an accident that may have...well, impeded his virility
• Sophie, West's former beloved, who married someone else and is now a widow. James flirts with her as a method of pissing off Violet. Everyone else is all "that's your brother's ex, wtf?"

Anyway, as the Smart Bitches review points out, they're being ridiculous and immature and everyone knows it. James and Violet may think up these schemes, but the other one ALWAYS sees through what they are doing pretty much instantly. Their friends are all "Oh, come on!" about this stuff. It sounds ridiculous.

And yet, this book works. You absolutely buy James and Violet's love for each other (and well, immaturity), why they're doing these silly ass things, and realizing they still love each other and really should apologize. There was one last minute "Big Misunderstanding" moment toward the end that annoyed me, but the author did redeem going there at the end to make James realize he needs to clean up his act, as it were. 

(Though I will say, good lord, these people seem privileged AF. They sleep in late, Violet spends her time reorganizing the library, they really don't have much to think about except their own love/social lives or have any other cares. But...it's a Regency novel, I suspect that is part of the appeal of these things. I can't even explain why I read them off and on.) 

Anyway...if you're into stuff like You Deserve Each Other or The Hating Game, and this level of immaturity followed by people getting over their shit doesn't bother you, then you will be into this book. If that sort of thing does irritate you, then by all means, skip it. But I really enjoyed this and pre-ordered the next one already. Four stars. 

 

Axiom's End

By Lindsay Ellis.

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to read this one--the beginning didn't exactly set me on fire--but I do like Lindsay Ellis quite a lot. In the end, the book was on sale on Kindle, what the heck, and I found myself getting more into it.

Cora Sabino's dad is Nils Ortega, the Julian Assange of 2007, notorious for outing stuff about well, the government's likely dealings with aliens. The formerly-Ortega family changed their names and got a divorce and they're all very sick of Nils's shit, the government keeping an eye on them even though Nils is in Germany, etc. Cora is the oldest of the bunch at 21 and life's not going super great after she dropped out of college and has job issues.... and then well, another presumed alien landing happens. And an alien shows up at the house, looking for her.

The alien, dubbed "Ampersand," sticks a tracker and a translation device into Cora, making her the only person who can communicate with him. Turns out her aunt Luciana has been secretly working with a group of aliens who landed awhile back and they haven't been communicative--no one's quite sure if they can't or won't. (Turns out, kinda both.) The group, dubbed "Fremda," is on the run from another group of aliens who decided to wipe them out because the Fremda weren't in favor of genocide. Ampersand has come to their rescue.... which is going to be difficult as hell.

These are very alien aliens. I can't even picture them--Transformers/Alien/mashup, I guess?--and the only reason Ampersand can communicate is that in the 1300's he was on Earth ah, studying humans (don't ask, you don't want to know). He can do his best to translate, but Cora is definitely needed for nuance, and just making sure she doesn't say the super blunt, rude stuff Ampersand says at times.  They turn themselves into the government to get to the Fremda group, and of course, things get. complicated. The huuuuuuuge, presumably insurmountable difficulties in communication between the amygdalines (the name given to the aliens.). I love how the author clearly thinks like I do about how humans can't even deal with their own species, much less the TOTAL WEIRDNESS of another species that's barely graspable.  Cora is 100% normal 21-year-old without any particular special skills other than caring, bur darned if that doesn't work for her somehow, you know? Especially since compared to the rest of his species, Ampersand has Been Through Some Shit and may react differently compared to everyone else after that. 

What with the ability to send her messages and track her down and all....Ampersand has hidden depths. Once he (she just goes with picking genders for 'em) realizes Cora's in distress one night and asks how to comfort her...awww. Yes, this definitely has some Monster Boyfriend vibes as they get closer, especially by the ending. I'm not sure what to make of it, something between "awww, cute!" and "HELL IF I KNOW ON THE BIOLOGY." 

Anyway, there shall be more to this series and I look forward to it. Four stars. 

 

The Little Paris Bookshop

By Nina George.

I read this because my therapist told me to. It wasn't bad, just kind of in the "probably wouldn't have read on my own, not exactly for me, but sweet in its own way" category.

Jean Perdu runs a floating bookshop in Paris off his barge, which is pretty cool. He's a "literary apothecary," who has a knack for being able to recommend a book based off your mental state and what you need. This trait is why I checked out the book from the electronic library in the first place, but sadly, this isn't really going on any more past the beginning of the book (though the author does have a list of books she'd prescribe in the back at the end). I really would have liked to have seen more of that, and it is genuinely startling when Jean dis-recommends a book his neighbor wrote, telling Catherine, a lady who's just been dumped by her husband that this is NOT the book she needs to read right now. (The author, Max Jordan, is of course rather upset by this.) 

Jean, per his last name, has been mourning the loss of the love of his life for 20 years or so, refusing to even think her name, and he definitely hasn't read the letter she left behind, which he reasonably assumes was dumping him. The lady, Manon, was of a polyamorous inclination and loved both him and her husband, but I guess being open about loving two dudes wasn't okay in the 80's/90's. Anyway, Jean assumed she dumped him to go back to her husband. But upon finding himself attracted to another woman--the aforementioned Catherine--and her ending up briefly in possession of the letter, he opens it.

And it's the worst of news: Manon told him she was dying in the letter and wanted to see him. And it's twenty years too late. Jean snaps, releases his boat from its holdings, and takes off down the river to go see what remains of Manon. The aforementioned Max Jordan, having a writing crisis, hops on board as well, and they pick up a third guy later. On the slow train there, Jean looks for the author of his favorite book, who wrote under a pen name. Very eventually, he makes it to his love's husband's house and works out his mourning issues.

It's a slow feeling book to me. Everyone in it's sweet, but it isn't exactly about a book detective, or a romance exactly (there are romances ,but it's all pretty brief), mostly just Jean finally resolving his issues and moving on. Which I'm sure appeals to some folks. It's not bad, it's all very nice, but I think in the end I'm just not going to find it very memorable, and on December 31, 2021 (if I'm still alive then, one hopes) when I go to look at the list of books I read within the year, I'll be all "I don't remember reading that one?"

Three stars.