Review: A Necessary Chaos, by Brent Lambert

In a world of magical empires and the anarchists that would tear them down, two mages, Althus and Vade, are each assigned to spy on the other by opposing sides. But when they both catch feelings, what happens when they’re commanded to kill their target? They must each decide if they'll follow orders or find a way to make their romance thrive beyond the lies.

"Grief never performed a single resurrection."

Brent Lambert's A Necessary Chaos is a sci-fi novella with magical aspects, a thrilling enemies-to-lovers romance between two men tasked to spy on each other. The dual POV allows to delve into the psyche, the past, and the motives of the main characters; we begin in medias res, with the deception of their love affair having gone on for years, and follow the inevitable shattering of the illusion when both characters are tasked to get rid of each other.

On the background is the larger conflict between an Empire that meddles with demons and human experiments, and the rebels who try to stop the carnage. When the truth is finally revealed, we race towards a high-stakes ending where characters need to learn to trust each other in order to avoid untold horrors. The novella was perfectly contained, giving tantalizing glimpses of a larger worldbuilding while managing to stick the landing. The main characters are skilled operatives, competent fighters with secrets, and the explosive finale is well-earned.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of typos.

A Necessary Chaos is a solid novella debut.

✨ 4 stars

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* This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

for: espionage, enemies to lovers

Review: Faebound, by Saara El-Arifi

Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future. When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the impossible: the fae court.
The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world – torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts.

"Our ignorance made victims of us."

Saara El-Arifi's Faebound is a romantasy that follows two sisters in their in their journey to discover that a species that was supposed to be extinct isn't so extinct after all. The fae are cursed to live underground, and their abode is explored fully, filled as it is with magic and mysteries. Plot twists abound; the revelations are woven into the story well. But the main characters, while being in their thirties, often act like they are much younger.

The relationship between the sisters is at the center, exploring the bounds of sisterhood, grief, resentment, and love. Prophecies are a thing that isn't taken seriously in the elven realms, and Yeeran doesn't always believe in her younger sister. Constrained by duty and love, Yeeran wasn't always there for Lettle, and that puts a burden on their relationship. The sisters' romantic relationships, while being a focus of the narration, feel unearned and a bit tropey, but at least the sapphic relationship of the older sister is executed well in contrast to the fated F/M romance of the younger.

The magical system is interesting, intricate and layered, with many possibilities explored. The fae can bind themselves to animals, becoming two halves of a whole, sharing a beautiful connection. The world isn't explored much, past what we know of the feud between various tribes of Elves, but one gets the sense that will change in the following books of the series. I would have liked the religion, and the three gods, to be explored more, but again that seems like it will be better developed in the coming books.

Faebound is a nice romantasy with little focus on plot.

✨ 3.5 stars

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* Walk Between Worlds, by Samara Breger

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Review: The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, by Natasha Pulley

1888. Five years after they met in The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Thaniel Steepleton, an unassuming translator, and Keita Mori, the watchmaker who remembers the future, are traveling to Japan. Thaniel has received an unexpected posting to the British legation in Tokyo, and Mori has business that is taking him to Yokohama. Thaniel's brief is odd: the legation staff have been seeing ghosts, and Thaniel's first task is to find out what's really going on. But while staying with Mori, he starts to experience ghostly happenings himself. For reasons Mori won't--or can't--share, he is frightened. Then he vanishes.
Meanwhile, something strange is happening in a frozen labor camp in Northern Japan. Takiko Pepperharrow, an old friend of Mori's, must investigate. As the weather turns bizarrely electrical and ghosts haunt the country from Tokyo to Aokigahara forest, Thaniel grows convinced that it all has something to do with Mori's disappearance--and that Mori may be in serious danger.

"Grace is not a thing you performed, but a weight you carried".

Natasha Pulley's The Lost Future of Pepperharrow is the stunning conclusion to the duology that began with The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. The journey of Thaniel and Mori, together with their adoptive daughter, reaches new highs and lows as we learn more about Mori, his morality and the lengths he's willing to go to to protect who he loves.

Mori is such an intriguing character because in another book, he could easily be a villain (in fact, some characters think he is). But we see him through Thaniel's loving eyes, we see his vulnerabilities and strengths, and we can't help but be completely enamored with him, with his quiet strength and his resolve. His are the lines that make us dissolve into a sobbing mess, his the trials and tribulations, in the pursuit of something he eventually can't even remember.

Thaniel gets a much needed depth too, and it's fascinating to see how he navigates his relationship with Mori, with the orphan Six, and with the new character Pepperharrow, a tragic and compelling figure. All the new characters felt alive and believable, with complex motivations of their own, and I was delighted to even find some old faces from the first book.

This sequel was so much better, both in composition and pacing. The prose was of course lovely already in the first book, but the author has such graceful writing, like a warm hug even in the direst circumstances. I loved that we got some more information about how Mori's clairvoyance works, and the ether, and glimpses of this alternate history. I especially loved the change in setting, with the author taking us to Japan and demonstrating a deft hand in painting the country through the eyes of a stranger. I enjoyed her choices in terms of dialogue and her note about it at the end.

The Lost Future of Pepperharrow is a masterful conclusion to a lovely duology.

✨ 5 stars

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* The Kingdoms, by Natasha Pulley

for: memory, time

Review: An Education in Malice, by S.T. Gibson

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua's College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold. On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.
But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.

"Face death bravely, and greet her as a lover."

S.T. Gibson's An Education in Malice is a sapphic dark academia with vampires, loosely connected to the author's A Dowry Of Blood and inspired by the classic Carmilla, although the inspiration ends at the names. The titular character enters a heated academic rivalry with the seemingly innocent Laura, while the two work under the tutelage of their poetry professor, a mysterious figure with her own agenda.

Their two POVs entwine as they navigate their attraction and their battle for their teacher's attention; Laura struggles with her own desires, which she can only safely explore with the help of erotic fiction, while Carmilla is trapped in an inappropriate relationship with her mentor. Gradually, the two will come together and overcome their hurdles, while also coming into their own.

The prose is exquisite, with lovely turns of phrase, and the obsessive nature of their fascination is mirrored by the lush descriptions and the carnality of the world they come into. The attraction between Carmilla and Laura culminates when they are invited to a vampiric bacchanalia, with voyeuristic plays and public sex. We also meet a few older vampires, expanding the world and giving it depth.

The book seems to be a standalone, but I would love something else with the same characters. Perhaps I would have preferred a singular POV, to add to the intrigue, but this worked as well.

An Education in Malice is a deliciously debauched retelling.

✨ 4 stars

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* In the Roses of Pieria, by Anna Burke

for: academia, deeper history