Novel Review: Small Favors

Fairy tale adaptions are a popular subset of YA novels, but not many are based on Rumpelstiltskin. However, Erin Craig has taken that tale and turned it into a gothic flavored thriller in Small Favors.

Back Cover Blurb

Ellerie Downing is waiting for something to happen. Life in isolated Amity Falls, surrounded by an impenetrable forest, has a predictable sameness. Her days are filled with tending to her family’s beehives, chasing after her sisters, and dreaming of bigger things while her twin, Samuel, is free to roam as he wishes.

Early town settlers fought off monstrous creatures in the woods, and whispers that the creatures still exist keep the Downings and their neighbors from venturing too far. When some townsfolk go missing on a trip to fetch supplies, a heavy unease settles over the Falls.

Strange activities begin to plague the town, and as the seasons change, it’s clear that something is terribly wrong. The creatures are real, and they’re offering to fulfill the residents’ deepest desires, however grand, for just a small favor. These seemingly trifling demands, however, hide sinister intentions. Soon Ellerie finds herself in a race against time to stop Amity Falls, her family, and the boy she loves from going up in flames.

The Review

Life is peaceful and predictable for Ellerie Downing, a farm girl in Amity Falls, a frontier town surrounded by an impenetrable pine forest. Then one summer, all the members of a supply train get slaughtered in the woods. Shortly thereafter, strange occurrences start happening to the populace, and misshapen animals appear in and around the town. After a fire ravages the Downing farm, Ellerie’s father must take her mother to the city for medical treatment, and it’s up to Ellerie to protect what remains of her family and home against the sinister forces threatening Amity Falls.

I reviewed Craig’s previous work House of Salt and Sorrows. If you enjoy her brand of creepy imagery, you’ll probably like Small Favors. The main difference is that in her previous work, most of the ghoulish stuff was limited to the heroine’s hallucinations and nightmares. In Small Favors, multiple characters are beset by disturbing visions, and monstrosities show up in the flesh to horrify everyone in town.

The exact location of the town and time period are never explicitly stated, but I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the American Midwest during the early 1800s. The residents are descended from Puritan-like settlers, and although they are reliant on periodic supply runs for manufactured goods and other necessities, they live for the most part in isolation. No mail. Very few visitors.

So the community slides into a steady decline when their link to the outside world (the supply train) gets broken amid rumors that the forest monsters that once terrorized the original settlers have returned. Those fears are cemented when abnormalities plague their fields and livestock. Craig does an excellent job of inserting horribly mutated versions of things to shake up her characters, then plunging them into hardships to drive them further on edge.

She’s less effective with the infighting among the Amity Falls folks. We can see the deterioration of Ellerie’s relationships with her best friend and twin brother, but not so much for the others. Mainly because there are too many to keep track of. As in House of Salt and Sorrows, most of the cast are a muddle of names without much to distinguish them. The book opens with a list of the “Important Families of the Gathering,” but even with the list (which doesn’t even include all the townsfolk mentioned by name), I still had trouble remembering which character was which.

In terms of the supernatural forces wreaking this havoc, Craig keeps readers guessing as to their true nature and as to which occurrences are their doing and which stem from the townsfolks’ own intent. However, the reveal of the Brotherhood of Light with their trove of knowledge felt a bit too convenient, as did their assumed identities. I’m a nitpick for details, and the Brotherhood seemed overly informed of the Amity Falls situation given how isolated it is. (The next settlement is several days away by horse.) There is one mention of a messenger bird, but no mention of it carrying news or correspondence. Also bothersome is how the town risks another ill-fated supply run right before winter because they are so desperate for supplies, but once spring comes, no one even talks about a supply run.

Ellerie is also really slow to connect the weirdness in town to the handsome, mysterious stranger who won’t tell her his real name. Or give her a straight answer about anything else. In terms of the romance aspect, it is very similar to that in Salt and Sorrows. There are heart-pounding instances with Ellerie’s building attraction to Whitaker, but he walks into the story besotted with her before she lays eyes on him. Given the breadth of his experience before they meet, I find it difficult to believe that he would fall in love simply by looking at Ellerie, engaging though she is.

By the way, the cast includes two Englishmen, and the narrative mentions a French trapper who once lived near Amity Falls, but there is no mention at all of Native Americans.

In Summary

Small Favors is a Gothic thriller set in an isolated 19^th-century American town that chronicles the populace’s descent from harmony and order to chaos and hate. There are creepy scenes and visions aplenty as Ellerie first struggles to navigate the bizarre events plaguing her town and then strives to discover who’s behind them. However, she is slow on the uptake regarding her love interest, who’s a little too perfect and innocent for his background. While the novel is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, the connection to the original work is very subtle, and if you’re looking for happy endings, this ending is mostly not.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: The Seekers of Genesis: Empyreal Roots

The Seekers of Genesis: Empyreal Roots is the debut work of author C. J. Walters. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

When immortal twins Villow and Dameaon Verchant reach their sixteenth year, they are required to choose Paths to fulfill their purpose. Villow is prepared to become a Guide Seeker, to shape a world and its citizens, far away from his twin. But Dameaon changes his mind at the last minute, switching from a Soldier Seeker to a Guide. To avert disaster, the twins are assigned as co-Guides, tasked with re-creating humanity.

With their fates unequivocally linked, Villow and Dameaon must prove that mankind is inherently good, or humankind will be destroyed and the twins will be banished—or annihilated. With disagreements and failures at every stage, their last chance lies in Ancient Greece. But through their own reckless actions, the twins bring forth the Trojan War, causing more problems than even the gods can solve.

The Review

Glanchings are immortals who choose their life’s path at sixteen. Villow Verchant looks forward to becoming a Guide in re-creating an Original Species that was lost in the War of the Fiends. But his carefully laid plans fall to pieces when his twin Dameaon, who has been training to be a Soldier, also declares he’ll become a Guide. The unexpected announcement results in them receiving a joint assignment to revive the human race on planet Earth. But will their sibling rivalry doom their efforts and humankind?

When I read the blurb for this novel, I couldn’t quite get a handle on the kind of story it was. As it turns out, the summary is all over the place because the novel itself is unfocused. On one hand, the world-building is overly complicated; on the other hand, character arcs don’t go anywhere. And inconsistencies of all kinds riddle the entire work.

The novel is divided into roughly two halves. The first half is the fantasy portion that establishes the Glanching world the brothers come from. It is a magic-wielding society obsessed with doing good. Yet although they claim to be vastly superior moral beings compared to humans, their behavior is very human. They lie, bully, gossip, and have petty rivalries. Although Dameaon is the supposed bad egg, supporting cast Portia and Colton are hardly upstanding characters either. And for a society set on the rules, the Glanchings bend them. A lot.

Anyway, Glanching citizens must choose one of five paths, and those who choose the Guide path are tasked with re-creating species that were destroyed in a long-ago epic war. Humankind was one of them, and the twin brothers are tasked with reestablishing humans on planet Earth and “guiding” them to become a good, upright species. However, if humans become evil, they get wiped out, and their Guides are punished with banishment.

The twins’ attempt at guiding humans is the focus of the second half of the book. They go to the ancient city of Troy to influence the inhabitants to become morally good and self-reliant. It isn’t clear if the planet is our Earth or a post-War of the Fiends remake. Either way, this is where the “mythology” aspect comes in. While I enjoy Trojan War retellings, Walters veers too far off cannon for my taste. The identities of the Greek gods stay more or less intact, but the human cast is a big mashup. Oedipus somehow ends up in the Trojan War; Menelaus never actually comes to fight for his wife; Paris is a runaway prince; and Helen is not born a Spartan princess but comes from some unnamed farm. These Trojans also drink wine in glasses in bars and play field hockey with Spartans prior to the Helen fiasco. These elements plus poorly scripted war scenes and very 21^st-century attitudes about courtship make this version of Troy less than authentic.

The story is told in first person with the perspectives alternating between the brothers. I believe this was to make readers sympathetic towards both characters, but it didn’t work for me, especially in Dameaon’s case. His snark and arrogance got old fast. His love for animals supposedly makes up for those shortcomings, but that characteristic just makes it more baffling when his influence on humankind results in them (*gasp*) killing animals. And even though he was at fault, he expresses no remorse or regret.

Dameaon’s violent personality is also problematic. During a field hockey game, he gets mad at Achilles for playing rough and starts punching him so violently the other characters are afraid to intervene. Yet when Achilles sprains his ankle in a field hockey accident with Oedipus, Dameaon gets unreasonably indignant at Oedipus. What makes this particular scene even weirder is that both he and Achilles act like a sprained ankle is the worst thing ever when Achilles has supposedly gone through Spartan pain endurance training which involves getting flogged during childhood.

Basically, nothing is consistent about Dameaon except that he’s got no respect for rules and has no concern for anything but himself and animals.

Villow, fortunately, has a more consistent personality, but that doesn’t make him compelling. His obsession with the mean-spirited Portia is especially distasteful given his oft-repeated respect for morals and his touchy-feely relationship with his best friend Katarin. Those relationships and his devastation over his parents’ potential divorce make him come off as weak and immature.

Unfortunately, the two brothers are the main characters, and their infighting dominates the plot. Basically, the brothers are at odds no matter what situation, and circumstances always bend such that they can’t get away from each other. For instance, Villow is the golden child of his prestigious family, and there’s a big deal made over his training to take on the huge responsibilities of re-creating an Original Species. (In fact Villow’s supposed inherent talent for being a Guide is the basis for the twins’ sibling rivalry.) However, when Dameaon declares on a whim that he will be a Guide, not only do the authorities not have a problem, he has no problem with the job, despite his lack of training. Occasionally, he even does better than Villow. So as Dameaon breezes through their duties, I have to wonder what the big fuss over being a “Guide” is. When they re-create the fauna and flora of the earth, all it amounts to is taking templates from a magical laptop and adding features – similar to a videogame.

Ultimately, I couldn’t relate to the twins or their Glanching world, and because of the setting and character inconsistencies, I didn’t care either.

In Summary

The Seekers of Genesis strives to be epic but comes up short. It starts slow and includes a bunch of terminology and details that don’t add to the plot. As for the historical/mythological aspects, a very contemporary sensibility permeates those elements, which rob them of authenticity. This novel is supposedly the first of a five-book series, but after 444 pages, I’ve had enough of Glanchings and the Verchant twins’ constant and pointless squabbling.

First published at The Fandom Post

Novel Review: Influence

Sara Shepard is a YA author best known for Pretty Little Liars. Recently she collaborated with 17-year-old actor Lilia Buckingham, and the result is the YA suspense novel Influence. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

After a video she makes goes viral, everyone knows Delilah Rollins. And now that she’s in LA, Delilah’s standing on the edge of something incredible. Everything is going to change. She has no idea how much.

Jasmine Walters-Diaz grew up in the spotlight. A child star turned media darling, the posts of her in her classic Lulu C. rainbow skirt practically break the Internet. But if the world knew who Jasmine really was, her perfect life? Canceled.

Fiona Jacobs is so funny–the kind of girl for whom a crowd parts–no wonder she’s always smiling! But on the inside? The girl’s a hot mess. And when someone comes out of the shadows with a secret from her past, it’s one that won’t just embarrass Fiona: it will ruin her.

Who wouldn’t want to be Scarlet Leigh? Just look at her Instagram. Scarlet isn’t just styled to perfection: she is perfection. Scarlet has a gorgeous, famous boyfriend named Jack and there’s a whole fanbase about their ship. To everyone watching online, their lives seem perfect . . . but are they really?

The sun is hot in California . . . and someone’s going to get burned.

The Review

“Influence” is a reference to influencers, the top tier of the social media hierarchy that draws masses of followers. Given the title, I anticipated reading about YouTubers creating videos, brainstorming for fresh content, seeking profitable collaborations, that sort of thing. However, this is less about independent efforts to gain a fan base, and more about the dark side of those who’ve attained it all.

Delilah Rollins is a Minnesota teenager with a small YouTube following – until a video of her rescuing a puppy goes viral. Her sudden fame coincides with her family’s move to LA, and she finds herself rubbing shoulders with TV star Jasmine Walters-Diaz and gorgeous fashion YouTuber Fiona Jacobs. Unfortunately, she also catches the eye of hottie Jack Dono, boyfriend to sponsorship queen Scarlet Leigh, and instantly draws the ire of their gargantuan fan base.

Despite the text constantly referring to characters as influencers, they seem less like people carving out online personalities and more like stereotypical Hollywood celebrities. Jasmine, who has the most developed back story, is best described as an actor/entertainer who has been in television she was eleven. In contrast, Fiona supposedly gained a following because her YouTube videos are so hilarious, but even though people keep mentioning how funny she is, there are no scenes that show readers Fiona’s funny side. As for Scarlet, she’s a sponsorship queen, but it’s never clear what made her one. In fact, the one whose online brand we know most about is small fry Delilah’s DIY and pet videos.

So instead of portraying the characters as social media creatives, the story sets up Jasmine, Fiona, and Scarlet as gorgeous celebrities who put out a perfect public façade but hide secrets that could destroy everything they’ve got. This is hardly a new storyline, even with the social media aspect making things more invasive. And with Delilah thrown in, we also have the innocent Midwesterner trying to navigate the glitzy perils of LA, which is also not an original concept.

Following an old theme isn’t bad in of itself, but the execution in Influence left much to be desired. For example, the insta-friendship between Delilah and celebrities Fiona and Jasmine and Delilah’s simultaneous insta-romance with Jack Dono was a lot to swallow. The authors also forced in a high school feel to accommodate their online learning only teenagers. Despite their wealth and success, Fiona, Jasmine, and Scarlet along with the rest of LA’s young influencers all live in the same Vine Street condo, so it ends up as a kind of young celebrity dorm. And even though their busy careers keep them from attending regular school, they still get a prom (courtesy of Instagram), where they all get fabulously dressed up before social media bombs start dropping down.

There are also logistical issues with the details. The perspective rotates between the four girls, but while Delilah, Fiona, and Jasmine’s chapters are written in a close third person, Scarlet’s are presented as video transcripts. I didn’t have an issue with that per se, but there are parts where her phone supposedly livestreams without her knowledge, yet the video footage would’ve been impossible to get unless Scarlet was intending to get it.

However, if you don’t care so much about details and are simply out to see wealthy, beautiful, and broken people destroy others and themselves, Influence packs in destructive behavior, lies, scandal, grudges, and rivalries aplenty.

Because Sara Shepard is one of the creators, the book wouldn’t be complete without a murder, thus someone gets knocked off midway through the book. Whereas the first half of the story focuses on the tension between the characters’ private lives and their perfect public selves, the second half is a murder mystery, with Delilah as the head sleuth. However, her main suspects are way too cooperative with the Minnesota kid. And confessions and information come out without much prompting. The solving of the mystery culminates with two shockers, but if you actually go back and try to line up events, the sequence doesn’t make sense. Especially in light of Scarlet’s hidden health condition. And speaking of health conditions, I found it odd that Delilah, whom the narrative pointedly describes as really responsible about her diabetes, would conveniently let herself go blind drunk at a critical part of the story yet suffer no ill aftereffects.

In Summary

LA’s biggest teen influencers are beautiful, glamorous – and desperate to hide their imperfections from the public eye. This theme isn’t a new one, and the social media creatives aspect isn’t as strong as the title would lead you to believe. For those that like jealous rivalries and vindictive attacks (online and physical), Influence has it in spades. But while the plot is loaded with shockers, it’s also riddled with tons of logic issues.

First published at The Fandom Post.

Novel Review: The Gilded Ones

A primary criticism of the We Need Diverse  Books movement is how books are populated by overwhelmingly white casts. This is definitely not the case in  Namina Forna’s YA fantasy The Gilded Ones. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.

The Review

Note: this is a review of an Advance Reader’s Copy. In the foreword, the author states that the book is an examination of patriarchy, but it isn’t so much an examination as it is a scathing criticism. I’m not necessarily opposed to such an overtly feminist viewpoint; after all, there are many misogynistic practices that must be called out. Even so, I couldn’t get myself to like Forna’s tale of girls standing up to wrest the future with their own hands. Partly because characters are so blatantly divided into good and bad, mostly along gender lines. Partly because the rules of her fantasy world, Otera, are so convoluted.

Otera consists of four regions, each occupied by different races but all ruled by a single emperor and religion. As part of that religion, all girls are slashed at the age of sixteen in the Ritual of Purity. If their blood runs red, they are accepted as members of society; if it runs gold, it signifies they’re alaki, descendants of demonic beings known as the Gilded Ones. The protagonist Deka, who has always been despised in her Northern village because of her mixed heritage, anxiously prays for red blood so she can finally earn acceptance. However, the day of the Ritual, humanoid monsters known as deathshrieks attack the village, and a sudden transformation overtakes Deka, changing her world forever.

The thing about this narrative is that it often states one thing, then some chapters later, contradicts that established fact. For instance, the races of the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western regions roughly equate to white, black, Asian, and Latino, respectively, and the story opens with Deka as the one biracial girl in her otherwise all-white village. Her late mother was a Southerner, and Deka describes at length the discrimination she suffers because of her mixed background and the villagers’ suspicions about her mother’s purity. That seemed to infer that race was a factor in the purity tested in the ritual. As it turns out, the state religion is enforced by the Emperor, a Southerner, so Deka’s dark skin has nothing to do with her purity. Also, once Deka leaves her village, the whole issue of racial tension becomes a nonissue.

As another example, the appearance of an alaki is supposedly rare; Deka remarks that the last time it happened to her village was “decades ago.” However, when she goes to the imperial capital, she joins scores of other alaki–and those are only the ones born in Deka’s birth year. That makes them uncommon, but certainly not as rare as the original statement led us to believe.

Then there are the okai. The term is introduced on page 1, but it isn’t defined until halfway through the story, which was confusing. Unfortunately, getting that definition made things even more confusing. Okai are top-tier imperial assassins, and not only are there female okai, there’s an entire garrison in the capital dedicated to their training. Despite the religious rules stating that women can’t leave home without an escort, must cover their faces with a mask (kind of a reverse veil), and are forbidden from running, that same system also allows some women to be trained as elite killers under the Emperor’s auspices? The necessity of female okai, which have supposedly existed for generations, is never explored, nor is the means by which girls are chosen for this path rather than the standard fate of submission to a husband. These inconsistencies in the world order are unfortunate, especially because other aspects of Otera, especially the visual descriptions of setting, architecture, and fauna, are beautifully imagined.

In the midst of this problematic world framework, Deka undergoes a classic hero’s journey. She begins as a powerless, oppressed prisoner, and through the help of the enigmatic noble White Hands, she endures boot camp style training, learns to harness her true powers, and ultimately discovers and fulfills her grand destiny. Between the abuse, the training, and the battle scenes, there is a lot of brutality and death. The violence isn’t gratuitous; Forna has a purpose for those scenes, but if you’re squeamish about torture, this might not be the best fit.

Forna does a pretty good job presenting the psychological scars of Deka and her fellow alaki. Fleshing out the personalities of the male characters, not so much. By and large, the men are one-dimensional brutes, who are often corrupt and self-righteous to boot. The one exception is Deka’s love interest, Keita, who is so perfect he treats deathshrieks with respect, despite the fact they slaughtered his entire family.

Those who enjoy heroic tales will find Deka’s journey from weakling to warrior an engaging one (if you’re willing to overlook the issues in the world order.) For me, the most compelling part of the story was White Hands and the secrets she withholds from Deka. Forna does an amazing job of weaving an air of intrigue around this character. However, when the mystery behind the deathshrieks’ very complicated lifecycle is revealed, all I felt was disappointment. White Hands is presented as the cunning strategist pulling the strings in the background, but her master plan is way more convoluted than it had to be. And despite the excessively unnecessary twists and turns leading to the confrontation against the ultimate big bad, the final battle is conveniently tidy and short.

In Summary

I really wanted to like this book but couldn’t. The Gilded Ones has strong female characters, vivid visual details, and unfortunately, too many places where you must suspend belief. If you’re looking to read about girls who kick butt and overthrow their oppressive patriarchal systems, this book has it in spades. However, if you need that action presented against a world order that makes some sort of sense, give The Gilded Ones a pass.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: Nameless Queen

Despite the declining number monarchies, tales of lost or hidden royals continue to fascinate people across cultures. Now Rebecca McLaughlin presents another story about a blue blood among the masses with her YA fantasy Nameless Queen. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

Everyone expected the king’s daughter would inherit the throne. No one expected me.

It shouldn’t be possible. I’m Nameless, a class of citizens so disrespected, we don’t even get names. Dozens of us have been going missing for months and no one seems to care.

But there’s no denying the tattoo emblazoned on my arm. I am queen. In a palace where the corridors are more dangerous than the streets, though, how could I possibly rule? And what will become of the Nameless if I don’t?

The Review

A quote on the dust jacket touts Nameless Queen as possessing “epic world-building,” but for me, the world-building was so shaky it kept jolting me out of the story. The setting is the city of Seriden. It’s preindustrial (they’ve got muskets but no gas/electric power), ruled by a sovereign, and has a population divided into three classes. Those classes are Royals (nobility), Legals (common citizens), and Nameless.

The Nameless, as you might guess, are the city’s oppressed inhabitants. They’ve got no legal status or rights, can’t buy property, and can’t hold jobs. As result, the vast majority live on the streets and survive by stealing and other illegal activities. However, it’s really unclear why the Nameless are stuck in Seriden. They’re not like Russian serfs, who are bound to provide slave labor for taskmasters. In fact, the Seriden government seems as if it would be thrilled if all the Nameless left town. And it’s not like the environment outside the city is some inhospitable wasteland. From what I can tell, nothing is keeping the Nameless from leaving and creating their own settlement elsewhere, yet they remain in the city where they receive no benefits and endure unjust beatings and hangings.

The other problematic aspect of this social structure is that the only thing differentiating the three classes is their clothes. Not something permanent or obvious like a brand or skin color, just clothes. And the clothes aren’t uniforms but vague ranges of color. Which means it’s easy to impersonate a different class by snitching the right outfits. There’s only one surefire way to tell if someone’s Nameless, and that’s through the magic of the sovereign.

 Or rather, it’s through the ineffectiveness of the sovereign’s magic.

Magic exists in Seriden, but its use is limited to the sovereign, whose powers are limited to what are essentially heightened ESPer powers–reading memories, manipulating thoughts, causing hallucinations. And those powers hold sway over Royals and Legals, but they have no effect on Nameless.

That inability to affect/manipulate the Nameless is the sole reason the group is discriminated against in the first place. But despite the emphasis on magic and how important it seems to the characters, it’s not really that critical to the city’s day-to-day functions. The sovereign doesn’t greet subjects with a daily hallucination. And even though the sovereign can tell at a glance if someone is Nameless, rank and file guards don’t have the same ability, and they are the ones maintaining city order.

Anyway, this is the world of our main character Coin. She’s a seventeen-year-old female Artful Dodger. She’s Nameless, homeless, self-reliant, and she gets the surprise of her life when, shortly after the king’s death, a magical tattoo appears on her shoulder, marking her as the heir to Seriden’s throne. Outrage ensues, and as Coin contends with death threats and endures the skepticism of the Royal Court, the plight of the Nameless hits her head on.

As far as characters go, Coin has an engaging voice, and she’s colorful and clever. The problem is she’s too clever for belief. She’s had to hone pickpocketing skills to survive, but apparently she’s so good she snitches several items despite being under guard custody AND having her hands shackled. The one time her dessert is poisoned, she instantly recognizes it as suspicious and even identifies the poison. She can knock the wind out of a professionally trained guard, and when she gets tossed into the palace dungeon, she escapes within five minutes. All this she does WITHOUT magic. So when she receives the sovereign’s magic powers on top of her own talents, it’s difficult to reconcile her superhuman abilities with the powerless mindset she carries.

Another thing difficult to reconcile is Coin’s I’m-all-alone mindset. From the start, she’s paired with Hat, a younger pickpocket with whom she’s worked for years. When Hat goes missing, Coin passes up a chance at safety to find her. When Hat ends up at the gallows, Coin risks her own neck to save her. Despite these actions, Coin is reluctant to call Hat her friend, even though mutual affection abounds between the two. Part of Coin’s character arc is a journey from lone wolf to accepting the love and support of others, but her excessively selfless actions on behalf of Hat makes that aspect of the narrative seem forced. Which is too bad because a number of scenes could have been truly touching had they been framed a more plausible context.

In Summary

Nameless Queen has great voice and intriguing characters. Unfortunately, problematic elements govern the setting, and the plot twists only make the events of the story less believable. All the fuss about the unsuitability of the main character doesn’t match the stakes, and the convoluted situation gets resolved much too easily at the end.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: American Royals

Despite the fact that the United States began by rebelling against a monarchy, many Americans retain a romantic view of royalty. That’s the target audience of  American Royals. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

What if America had a royal family? If you can’t get enough of Harry and Meghan or Kate and William, meet American princesses Beatrice and Samantha. Crazy Rich Asians meets The Crown. Perfect for fans of Red, White, and Royal Blue and The Royal We!

The Review

The premise of American Royals immediately brought to mind the Korean manhwa and drama Goong (Princess Hours). Both reimagine modern democratic countries as modern monarchies to form the backdrop of romances involving young royals. Unfortunately, while Goong was captivating, American Royals came across as implausible and tiresome.

The implausibility sprang from the novel’s problematic world building. Whereas Korea has a legacy of kings and nobility for Goong to draw from, America doesn’t have one. The origin story provided is that George Washington was asked to become king when America won the Revolutionary War, and after he accepted the crown, he awarded titles and dukedoms to those who’d aided the Revolution. That tradition of ennobling worthy citizens persists to the novel’s present-day, and the nobility includes individuals from formerly oppressed groups (i.e., Native Americans and blacks–the monarchy supposedly abolished slavery two generations after the Revolution).

However, when a royal falls for a commoner, it triggers an uproar about impropriety that doesn’t make much sense when nobility is only a royal decree away. Not to mention, the nobility doesn’t serve any special function other than attending fancy state events. They’re not charged with military obligations to the country, and they can go bankrupt like anyone else. (Supposedly, one of the original noble families is on the brink of losing all their assets.)

Another thing that doesn’t ring true is how content and peaceful American society is. Everyone adores the royal family and is perfectly happy to remain under their rule, no matter their background. Yet toward the end of the book, the two Latina characters make references to the fact that people hate them because they’re Latina. This indicates the existence of racial prejudice, but nowhere else does this portrayal of America show any racial tension. Similarly, the narrative mentions at least three openly gay couples in the nobility that hobnob with the royal family, but toward the end, a character complains how she was discriminated against because she’s gay. The novel wants to present the monarchy as high-minded and egalitarian and at the same time show minorities fighting the injustices of the system, and it doesn’t work.

 Unfortunately, this novel winds up with the books to attempting for the diverse voices stamp of approval and falling short. Despite the fact that one black and two Native American men made the shortlist for the Crown Princess’s hand, all the main and secondary male characters are white. The Washingtons have supposedly intermarried with foreign royals, but all the ones we are aware of came from European countries. Himari Mariko, the one Asian character, is literally in a coma the entire story, and her surname isn’t even a real Japanese surname. (Mariko is a Japanese given name for females.)

Nina is the one token Latinx in the main cast, and I’ve got issues with her for different reasons. The narrative describes her parents as “one of Washington’s power couples:” one heads the Treasury, the other founded a successful e-commerce business. If that doesn’t scream privilege, the fact that she’s hung out at the palace and vacationed with the royal kids since the age of six ought to. Yet despite the fact that she’s attended state events with the princesses and prince and her parents have wealth and power, she’s portrayed as the down to earth commoner, who is at a loss at formal events. She even has a college scholarship tied to an on-campus job, which in this world are generally granted to students with financial hardship. If a so-called Washington power couple can’t swing college tuition for their kid, the rest of the country must be in really bad financial shape.

As for the tiresome aspect of the novel, it stems from the fact that all four of the main female characters are varying degrees of vacuous. Nina is supposedly smart, but she makes out with Prince Jefferson while he is still officially in a relationship with another girl, and afterward, he doesn’t call, text, or otherwise contact Nina for six months. But despite that dismal display of character, Nina decides he’s good boyfriend material. Princess Beatrice has supposedly known from infancy that she is expected to take on the responsibilities of the Crown, and monarchies, as a rule, deem continuing the bloodline a major part of it. However, when her parents bring up the subject shortly after she graduates from college, she acts like it’s never even occurred to her she might have to marry a guy she doesn’t love for the good of the country. Her sister Samantha is worse. She’s presented as the family free spirit, but her behavior comes off as self-absorbed and reckless. She’s supposedly extremely well versed in history, but despite the dozens of examples of political and arranged royal marriages, it never crosses her mind that politics might play even a tiny factor in Beatrice’s selection of consort. As for Daphne, she’s a stereotypical conniving gold-digger, albeit one from the nobility.

The narrative jumps from one woman’s perspective to the next, and the overall result is four uninspired romances woven together. The premise of an American monarchy has a lot of potential, but the novel focuses so much on the women’s fraught love lives that we never really see how this government affected the trajectory of American society and history. We never get a male perspective (it would’ve been nice to get Prince Jefferson’s view on events), and we never get any specifics on the concerns and challenges of the country. The narrative tells us over and over that the king and Beatrice work ceaselessly for the good of the country, but we don’t know if they’re dealing with an oil shortage, the threat of war, trade imbalances, environmental issues, or if they’re preoccupied with keeping the upper crust happy so they can retain their status.

By the way, this book is categorized in the YA section at my local library, but it’s probably more of a New Adult title. With the exception of Daphne, all the characters are out of high school, and Beatrice and her love interest are in their twenties. There’s lots of drinking, and a couple of characters have sex although those scenes aren’t overly graphic.

In Summary

A romance that reimagines a modern democratic nation as a modern monarchy isn’t a new idea, and unfortunately for American Royals, the story it weaves into that setting is also uninspired. The romantic moments between the main characters and their love interests are contrived (especially Beatrice’s getting snowed in at a cabin), and I can’t get myself to care about their love lives. It would’ve been nice to see how a monarchy might have redirected the development of the country, but in the story, it’s simply a device so that Americans can have their own prince and princesses to swoon over.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: The Miracles of the Namiya General Store

It’s rare to find an adult title that’s beautifully written and carries a message of hope, but The Miracles of the Namiya General Store has got both qualities. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

When three delinquents hole up in an abandoned general store after their most recent robbery, to their great surprise, a letter drops through the mail slot in the store’s shutter. This seemingly simple request for advice sets the trio on a journey of discovery as, over the course of a single night, they step into the role of the kindhearted former shopkeeper who devoted his waning years to offering thoughtful counsel to his correspondents. Through the lens of time, they share insight with those seeking guidance, and by morning, none of their lives will ever be the same.

The Review

This novel is a gem. I’m not generally a fan of stories where time and space get twisted by unknown entities, but The Miracles of the Namiya General Store grabbed my heart much the way your name did. However, Namiya General Store has a drastically different plot structure than your name. In your name, the year and setting bounces all over the place, but ultimately the plot follows the progression of the main couple’s relationship. Namiya General Store has no overarching plot. It’s comprised of five lengthy chapters, each focused on a different set of characters. Yet as the chapters progress, they reveal critical connections which bind the characters, although the characters themselves are often oblivious to it.

The one connection that definitively ties all the characters is the Namiya General Store. In the late 1970s, the aged shopkeeper offered advice to anyone who wanted it. Simply drop your question, no matter how silly or serious, in the shop’s mailslot after hours, and old Mr. Namiya would have a response waiting in the milk crate at the rear of the shop the next morning. Fast forward to 2012, thirty-three years after Mr. Namiya’s passing, three young burglars duck into the now abandoned store after a midnight robbery. As they’re waiting for the coast to clear, letters from the past drop through the slot.

Chapter 1 actually begins with the three thieves and their decision to respond to the letters on the store’s behalf. Chapter 2 shifts back in time to one of the advice-seekers whose correspondence reaches the three thieves. Chapter 3 goes even further back to show Mr. Namiya in his advice-giving heyday as seen through his son’s eyes. In Chapter 4, the perspective shifts to Mr. Namiya’s first serious correspondent. Finally, Chapter 5 wraps up with the three thieves and the final advice-seeker they advise. It’s a lot of jumping around, but it actually works because there’s always an element from the ending chapter that allows it to flow into the next.

The thing that initially grabs your attention is the problems of the advice-seekers. (There’s a reason why advice columns attract readers.) However, the focus gradually shifts to those struggling to write a response. While we eventually become privy to the particulars of everyone involved, the characters are shut behind veils of anonymity. Anonymity is often used as a shield for nastiness, and a couple times, the thieves do make potshots in their responses. For the most part, however, the three do their utmost to help the advice-seekers, and the way their anonymity bring out the best in them is a beautiful twist.

The store’s supernatural routing system lends the novel an air of mystery, and the story also contains some exciting bits, including a deadly fire and a family’s fly-by-night. For the most part, though, this is a tale of characters at crossroads. Not everyone gets a happy ending, but all are portrayed in a sympathetic light as they agonize over the right thing to do.

In Summary

Thoughtful, well-intentioned advice doesn’t always lead to a happy result, but at the Namiya General Store, it’s more the rule than the exception. Characters come from all walks of life and grapple with a range of decisions, but Higashino-sensei beautifully intertwines their struggles to create a beautiful story of hope.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: The Guinevere Deception

A lot of retellings recast females in much more active roles than they originally had. Kiersten White does this with the Arthurian legends in The Guinevere Deception. Read on for the review.

Back Cover Blurb

Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.

To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land.

Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?

The Review

The Guinevere Deception seems written for those looking for a feminist take on the Arthurian legends. Arthur’s queen isn’t your usual pretty trophy wife. She’s clever, she takes initiative, and her mission is to protect the king. But she’s not the only strong female in the cast. Most women boast backbone plus some power or ability, and the two greatest threats to our protagonist are female.

As to the main character, she’s called Guinevere, but the third person narrative initially only refers to her as “the girl,” which makes for a clunky opening chapter. It’s not until the middle of Chapter 2 that it settles on referring to her as Guinevere. That’s because “Guinevere” is a changeling and only recently assumed this particular form and identity (which was taken from a now-deceased princess). This is done at the behest of her father Merlin. Having convinced King Arthur to ban magic from his realm, the great wizard is obliged to stay out of Camelot. But so that Arthur’s not left completely vulnerable against dark magic, he sends his daughter to watch over the king in his stead, and their marriage is a ruse to allow her to keep close to Arthur.

It’s a complicated setup. It’s also complicated because our main character has big gaps in her memory, which makes it difficult to tell what kind of person she was before assuming her Guinevere identity. For instance, Merlin is her father, but she knows nothing about her mother, and it doesn’t strike her as strange until two thirds through the book. At the same time, she’s faking her way as queen without any real guidance on who the real Guinevere was. The only thing that is absolutely clear about her is that she is determined to protect King Arthur no matter what.

Her loyalty is admirable, but it is also baffling, given that she dedicates herself to the task before she’s met Arthur. Moreover, she’s a creature of magic who’s been isolated from people. Prior to becoming Guinevere, she lived in the wilds, and her only interactions were with Merlin. She doesn’t have any real investment or connection with human society, yet she’s ready to put herself on the line to make sure Arthur’s vision for Camelot succeeds.

However, if you can accept that elaborate setup, the plot that follows is interesting. Guinevere must use magic to detect and fight magic, but because it’s against the law, there are close calls and clandestine measures. Guinevere ends up behaving like the superhero who must wield her superpowers judiciously in order not to blow her cover. Arthur, who contrived the arrangement with Merlin, knows her secret, of course, but eventually she let others in on it, mainly because she holds an equally weighty secret of theirs.

Regarding Guinevere’s relationship with Arthur, this novel is YA, so they get around the issue of sex by agreeing that their marriage is just a cover and therefore does not need to be consummated. However, Guinevere, who devoted herself to Arthur even before laying eyes on him, pretty much falls for him once they actually do meet. Although that’s not too surprising because everyone in Camelot is in love with the king. While female characters have a fair amount of complexity, the male characters are flat. That includes Arthur, who’s invariably adored by his people and always does the right thing no matter what. The one exception to the banal male lineup is Arthur’s nephew Mordred, who forms a love triangle with Arthur and Guinevere. His interactions with Guinevere are much more interesting, although they have so many encounters that it’s a wonder it doesn’t trigger any malicious gossip in the court that Guinevere trying to navigate as queen.

The multifaceted aspects of this world are the novel’s strong suit. Guinevere’s acting sentinel against magical forces, so there are battles and investigations involving enchantment. At the same time, she’s queen at a castle, so there’s an element of royal pageantry. And Camelot doesn’t exist in a political void, so Arthur has human enemies in addition to the supernatural ones. Plus, a kingdom has more mundane problems, like poop disposal. This envisioning of Camelot is lively and fascinating, so even if our heroine is sometimes baffling as she sorts through the disconnected bits that comprise her identity, the activity swirling around her form an engaging backdrop.

In Summary

This Guinevere isn’t just a pretty face. She’s a magic-wielding, smart-sleuthing protectress of the kingdom. However, the fact that she doesn’t remember much of who she is while simultaneously impersonating a person she never knew makes her someone difficult to relate to. But if you like mysteries and enigmas with a cast of knights and various magic-wielding entities, give this book a shot.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: House of Salt and Sorrows

Fairy tale adaptions are a popular subset of YA novels, but not many are based on The Twelve Dancing Princess. However, Erin Craig has taken that lesser known tale and combined it with gothic flavored horror in House of Salt and Sorrows.

Back Cover Blurb

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last–the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge–and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.

Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister’s deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who–or what–are they really dancing with?

The Review

Erin Craig presents an interesting twist on The Twelve Dancing Princesses. There’s a mystery to be solved, but it’s styled less like a hero’s challenge and more like a gothic horror story. Although the puzzle of the worn dancing shoes comes into play, the primary enigma confronting our main character is the deaths of her older sisters.

Annaleigh is the sixth of the Duke of Salaan’s twelve daughters. However, four of the young women have met untimely ends. People whisper that the sisters are cursed, but Annaleigh suspects murder. As her family attempt to ignore the rumors and move on with their lives, Annaleigh investigates the deaths only to find herself increasingly beset by eerie visions and nightmares.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It got off to a fabulous start with Craig’s gorgeous world-building. Arcannia incorporates many Victorian-era elements in its setting and culture, and those who like descriptions of silk ball gowns and corsets and luxurious gaslit estates will have plenty to enjoy. Another Victorian element of the story is the gothic horror type atmosphere haunting Annaleigh. As she confronts one gruesome image after another, readers are left guessing whether her sisters’ ghosts are real or she’s losing her mind.

Then a third of the way through the story, the nighttime balls come into the story along with a magic/meddlesome deity aspect. From the get-go, Arcannia is depicted as a polytheistic society, with each area of the kingdom paying homage to a regional deity. These initial descriptions make it seem like these gods and their supernatural powers are rather removed from the mortal world. However, once the sisters start going to the family shrine, gods and magic are suddenly very active in the narrative.

This irked me. The initial chapters made it seem like the only possible actors in the sisters’ deaths were ghosts or humans. Annaleigh never considers that magic or immortals might be involved even though their existence is supposedly common knowledge. So when the mystery of Annaleigh’s ghoulish visions is revealed as the workings of a god, that was a letdown.

Another weakness of the story is the romance between Cassius and Annaleigh. It’s not insta-romance on her end; watching her figure out whether he’s friend or foe is actually intriguing. However, he walks into the story besotted with her before they’ve met. Considering how he learned about Annaleigh and the fact that she’s one of eight sisters, I’m left wondering why her and not one of the others.

The story also runs into the same quandary I noticed in another Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling, Princess of the Midnight Ball. Basically, twelve sisters is a lot of people to keep track of. Granted, the deaths in House of Salt and Sorrows reduces the number to eight, but that’s still a lot. Aside from the eldest, the youngest, and the main character, the sisters are a muddle of names without much to distinguish them.

However, a woman that does stand out in this female-heavy family is Morella, the Duke’s new young wife. As soon as I saw the word “stepmother,” I really hoped the novel would depict something beyond the hackneyed evil stepmother. Sadly, Morella winds up among the ranks of the wicked version although she puts on a pretty good nice-mom act for most of the book.

In Summary

This book starts off well and creates wonderful atmosphere in both its radiant and creepy scenes. (And if you want spooky descriptions, there’s plenty on these pages.) However, the deus ex machina resolution to the mystery of Annaleigh’s visions was disappointing, and for the life of me, I don’t see how the main character was so compelling that her love interest would go to such lengths for her.

First published at The Fandom Post.

 

Novel Review: Spin the Dawn

Fantasies often have wizards as central characters, but how about a tailor with a magical touch? Elizabeth Lim presents the tale of a girl tasked to create three mythical gowns in her debut novel Spin the Dawn.

Back Cover Blurb

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise. And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

Steeped in Chinese culture, sizzling with forbidden romance, and shimmering with magic, this young adult fantasy is pitch-perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas or Renée Ahdieh.

The Review

This fantasy is a delightful change of pace. Unlike most English language novels in this genre, which tend to have European-style settings, this story takes place in A’landi, an East Asian inspired empire. And instead of having a royal or adventurer protagonist, the main character Maia Tamarin is a tailor.

Not to say there aren’t royals or a dangerous quest in the plot. Following a five year civil war between the emperor and a powerful warlord, the master tailor Kalsang Tamarin is summoned to the emperor’s court. However, the recent war, which claimed two of his sons and maimed the third son, has left him so broken he cannot sew. Unfortunately, the summons cannot be ignored, so his daughter Maia disguises herself, taking her remaining brother’s identity, to go in his place. Soon thereafter, Maia discovers she’s merely one of twelve tailors that will vie to become the emperor’s master tailor, and the judge is none other than the warlord’s daughter Sarnai, whose impending marriage to the emperor is critical to A’landi’s newfound peace.

The primary thread of this book is Maia rising up to each of Sarnai’s challenges. The demands of those challenges changes drastically as the story progresses, and the novel winds up in three distinct acts. The first is the competition between the twelve tailors at the Summer Palace. It resembles a TV elimination-type competition with plenty of girls-are-capable-as-boys gumption and a thick layer of court intrigue. The second part is the quest for the mythical components of Sarnai’s three wedding dresses. These chapters are reminiscent of impossible task folktales where heroes venture into forbidden territories with the aid of magical helpers. In Maia’s case, her magical helper is the emperor’s enchanter Edan, and in addition to being an adventure-style quest, this section also ends up a romance between the two. In the final section, Maia must reckon with the costs and gains of her efforts and determine whether she can return to normalcy.

It’s a lot of territory for one book, but despite roaming over a bunch of genres, it forms a solid, cohesive, and engaging story. The strength of Maia’s character has a lot to do with it. The novel gets off to a slower start than some, but the family history in the initial chapter forms the core of what makes Maia compelling and relatable.

Actually, the multifaceted nature of the cast is among its greatest strengths. Edan carries centuries of baggage behind his teasing, and although Sarnai doesn’t hesitate to torment others, she’s to be pitied as a woman forced into an arranged marriage. Most characters fall into shades of gray, which makes Maia’s dilemma of whom to believe and trust as pressing as the sewing challenges she must win.

Regarding the love that blossoms between Maia and Edan, I’m happy to say that it is not a case of insta-romance. Maia meets him amid the intrigue of the Summer Palace, where Edan is only one of a number of enigmatic figures she’s trying to figure out. Although the connection between Edan and the palace’s black hawk is kind of obvious, it’s not obvious from the get-go how their relationship will progress, which makes it fun to watch. However, it is odd she refers to him as a “boy.” His actual age aside, Edan has the appearance of a young man of about twenty.

Another interesting facet of this story is the descriptions of the materials, tools, and techniques the tailors use. If you like fashion, this may be a selling point for you. However, I found some aspects of Maia’s abilities jarringly unbelievable. Not only does Maia work so fast that she knits two complete sweaters during her five-day ride to the Summer Palace, she sews the silk portions of Sarnai’s three gowns while she journeying to the desert and a frozen mountaintop. I’ve sewn dresses and shirts myself, and I can’t imagine keeping all those pieces clean and in order while camping, let alone through the sand and rain she supposedly traveled through.

The journey’s pace was also puzzling at times. Maia has a mere three months to travel to the three corners of the continent to gather the magical materials for Sarnai’s gowns. As such, Maia’s constantly under the pressure of this looming deadline. However, there are parts, such as their encounter with Orksan’s caravan and their visit to the monastery, where they stop a couple days as if time is of no consequence.

Those are minor nitpicks though. Overall, I enjoyed this story and its cast, and unlike most recent novel series I’ve read, I’m actually eager to see what happens in the second book of this duology.

In Summary

Spin the Dawn is one girl’s journey from obscurity to fame, from the mundane to the magical, and from loss to love and back again. Combined with a complex cast, an intricate Asian-inspired setting, and plenty of unexpected twists and turns, this novel is a delightful read with wide appeal.

First published at The Fandom Post.