ARC Review: Angel Eye, by Madeleine Nakamura

When a healer begins murdering hospital patients, Professor Adrien Desfourneaux discovers that the threat is far closer to him than he could have imagined.
Still recovering from a recent institutionalization and unable to trust his own mind or magic, Adrien is drawn into the witch hunt as suspicion falls upon those closest to him. The city’s inquisitors and witchfinders are losing control, the magicians are growing more and more resentful, and the scars from Adrien’s last brush with disaster refuse to fade. To put an end to the innocent deaths, to keep his dearest friends, and to prove himself worthy of a potential new romance, Adrien is forced to confront his own blind spots before he’s fatally ensnared by the angel of death’s machinations.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Madeleine Nakamura's Angel Eye is the gut-wrenching sequel to the excellent 2023 debut Cursebreakers (HERE you can read my review). It's a fast paced, tightly woven thriller, and the first half is absolutely anxiety-inducing and heart-breaking. The themes from the first novel are further explored, giving a nuanced read on addiction, mental illness, and hypersexuality, while also teeming with overwhelming kindness and understanding for battered protagonist Adrien, who just can't seem to catch a break. In this book, his support system grows exponentially, and it's a joy to read amidst the tears.

All the characters from the first novel get their moments to shine, their relationship to Adrien front and center, but it's the new characters that really sell this book and make this a perfect sequel, building on the already strong foundations and creating a perfect gem. Adrien's new keeper is an incredibly intense figure, sharp and terrifying and bigger than life; and his new love interest is just what he needs, sweet and loyal and utterly unafraid, their relationship growing organically and beautifully. There are othere addictions to the cast, all absolutely delightful.

The worldbuilding was really the only thing that I thought had some small problems in the first novel, and here the issues are corrected thanks to a more narrowed focus on the city and its politics. We also lose a bit of the focused academic setting, but it works because it allows for a more thorough exploration.

This book adds on the mental anguish from the first one by adding physical and mental torture, gaslighting, and attempted rape; as such, one might want to proceed with caution, but it's a rewarding read.

Angel Eye is an excellent sequel.

✨ 5 stars

ARC Review: A Body Not Her Own, by Eileen Farren

The women of Nora are dying. Hunted, for over two hundred years, by an immortal man seeking to kill the Goddess Eos and her reincarnations. As the current reincarnation, Enid's death was predicted. Being brought back to life wasn't. Caught between the weight of her past lives and her second chance, Enid finds herself tasked with the impossible: kill the Immortal Man and end his violent hundred-year streak before countless more women are slain.
To ensure her survival, she is assigned a bodyguard—the flirty and infuriating Elven woman named Locke—to guard her on her journey and see her assignment through to the end. An ancient rage is simmering under the surface of her skin, demanding blood. Death. Vengeance. Enid only has to stay alive long enough to satiate it.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Eileen Farren's A Body Not Her Own is is a sweet and simple romantasy set in a modern-ish world with magic, where gods are real and they can be killed and reincarnated. The focus is of course on the romance between the main character Enid and her bodyguard Locke, but there's some attempts at a bigger worldbuilding. The world feels like a generic fantasy world, not very developed, but the premise of the book is intriguing enough.

The relationship between Enid and Locke grows organically, from a heated one-night-stand to a love that defies all. The two of them have an easy banter that's fun to witness, but there's also drama and more serious moments. I love the bodyguard trope, and the book does not disappoint in that regard, with many istances where Enid has to be protected. But she's not a helpless damsel in distress, on the contrary she can defend herself. Locke on the other hand is the typical grizzled warrior who thinks she cannot have what she wants, and it's fun to see her lower her walls.

The supporting cast is big and varied, and from a specific moment forward we also have a few new povs, which was unexpected and a welcome change. A good number of characters are necromancers, which brings some novelty to the narration.

A Body Not Her Own is a nice debut.

✨ 3 stars

Review: No Gods for Drowning, by Hailey Piper

The old gods have fled, and the monsters they had kept at bay for centuries now threaten to drown the city of Valentine, hunting mankind as in ancient times. In the midst of the chaos, a serial killer has begun ritually sacrificing victims, their bodies strewn throughout the city. Lilac Antonis wants to stop the impending destruction of her city by summoning her mother, a blood god—even if she has to slit a few throats to do it. But evading her lover Arcadia and her friends means sneaking, lying, and even spilling the blood of people she loves. Alex and Cecil of Ace Investigations have been tasked with hunting down the killer, but as they close in—not knowing they're hunting their close friend Lilac—the detectives realize the gods may not have left willingly.
As flooding drags this city of cars and neon screaming into the jaws of sea demons and Arcadia struggles to save the people as captain of the evacuation team, Lilac’s ritual killings at last bear fruit, only to reveal her as a small piece in a larger plan. The gods’ protection costs far more than anyone has ever known, and Alex and Cecil are running out of time to discover the true culprit behind the gods’ disappearance before an ancient divine murder plot destroys them all.

"Sometimes, love's not enough, and good intentions die in the street."

Hailey Piper's No Gods for Drowning is a perfectly contained standalone set in a holy land abandoned by its gods. Now scattered cities are haunted by the threat of mythical sea figures who kill and vanish people, and by the sea moving inland to reclaim what was once an archipelago. In this oppressive climate, Lilac's decision to try and summon a god makes perfect sense, even though the necessary rituals amount to plain murder. This book plays a lot with the idea of morality and the dichotomy of right and wrong, showing there's no easy answer when faced with certain death.

The book contains multiple POVs. We follow Lilac, her lover who's an ex-soldier who couldn't follow terrible orders, and a duo of investigators from out of town. Lilac's relationship with Arcadia is already established, thus providing a good source of angst when the plot is revealed, but it's the friction with the detectives, one of them a friend to Lilac and the other to Arcadia, that makes for the bulk of the conflict, especially in the second half. Duty - with a dash of PTSD - and motherhood are also central themes.

The worldbuilding isn't especially original, but it's clear and well-developed, and it shines when the gods finally make an appearance. Twists and turns keep the readers on the edge of their seat, while the book turns from noir to an exploration of existential dread and what it means to be human and to be in a community, wrapping up with a finale that's devastating in its simplicity. Empathy, in the end, is what can save us.

No Gods for Drowning is a remarkable novel.

✨ 4 stars

Review: The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennet

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead — killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible. Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.
At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home. Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

"Civilization is often a task that is only barely managed."

Robert Jackson Bennet's The Tainted Cup is an excellent murder mystery wrapped in the beautiful package of an immaculate worldbuilding, featuring an autistic investigator and her dyslexic assistant, who is our only narrator. This Watsonian figure is thus often as clueless as we are to the investigator's sharp deductions, and it's a delight to be there for the ride, desperately trying to keep up.

This really feels like much more of a mystery novel than a fantasy story, but I have an inkling that there will be a larger plot to unravel about the world. In this first book, the world is more in the background, but we are immersed in it with deft, precise, and small strokes. This is a world where people are artificially augmented in order to cover various tasks, where an empire built walls in order to protect the population from giant creatures called leviathans whose arrival by sea is heralded by earthquakes. This vividly painted world is teeming with contagions that scare the population, while the government is in a power struggle with powerful families. The books thus touches upon themes of classism and social injustice, and it's certain to delve more on them in the rest of the trilogy.

The interactions between Din and Ana are naturally an highlight of the book, with Din's inexperience playing well against Ana's greatness. He's not one to be intimidated, though, and he ends up being of great help thanks to his general stubborness. The rest of the cast is very vibrant, with many support characters who all feel very distinct and have their own development, following the big revelations coming from the investigation. There's even time for the sweet first steps of an achillean relationship between Din and another character, but it's not a focus.

The Tainted Cup is a great first installment.

✨ 4.5 stars