Review: Aurethia Rising, by Atlas Laika

 

Elio Henly has been preparing for marriage his entire life. As the Henly heir and future steward of Aurethia, he will inherit great power, including control of a lucrative trade route, and ownership of the most precious substance in the Greater Universe — Avara. The mysterious blue crystal native to Aurethia is the sole treatment for parsec sickness, an epidemic ravaging space travelers within the Greater Universe. But when he meets Cael Volkov, the charming heir of the outfitted military planet, Griea, everything he thought he knew about his homeworld, his family, and his heart is turned upside down.  Cael Volkov has been raised to conquer. Champion in the Tupinaire, commander of the Royal Reserve, and son to the mighty Legatus, Cael knows his mission is gain the Aurethian heir’s trust, learn everything he can about the forest moon, and prepare to take it by force. But the longer he spends with Elio Henly, the quiet, brilliant Aurethian prince, the more he questions everything he was taught, and begins to push back against the rhetoric seeded in him by a lust for vengeance.

"How does one undo a lifetime of inequity?" 

Atlas Laika's Aurethia Rising is a queer sci-fi romance that works perfectly as a standalone, but it's actually first in a series that promises to be explosive. Teeming with political maneuvers and betrayal, this stunning space opera takes more than a little inspiration from Dune to show a political marriage between rival Houses and the powerful love that can be born even in the direst circumstances, while reflecting on greed and capitalism.

Elio and Cael are exquisitely explored, and their courtship is a slow affair whose ending feels inevitable. They're a byproduct of their environment; Elio is painfully naive to the realities of commerce, his family the only one that can provide a substance coveted by the rest of the universe, and Cael was bred and trained for the sole purpose of taking back much needed resources, his whole people confined to a harsh homeland. Yet, they persevere, facing harsh betrayals and a seismic truth. The last PoV character is Cael's cousin, a harsh warrior and a tragic, hateful character. Of the rest of the cast, Elio's sister shines with her strength of will and her ferocious loyalty.

The powerful worldbuilding immerses the reader in a big universe, conquered by Earth's descendants, with a confederation made of many powerful Houses ruling planets and moons; but there's also a hint of otherness, the sense that humans aren't alone. The titular Aurethia is a stunning place, and the lush prose paints everything in vivid, colorful strokes, composing a beautiful symphony.

Aurethia Rising is a gorgeous journey.

✨ 4.5 stars

 

Snippet: The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie

For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes. But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts. And they have made their own alliances with other gods.
It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo--aide to Mawat, the true Lease--arrives. And in seeking to help Mawat reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven's Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself...and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.

“Perhaps, long or short, it mattered how one spent that time.”

Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower is an excellent standalone Hamlet-inspired novel with a twist about manipulative and manipulated gods. It features fascinating mythology and magic system, and a beautiful usage of the second person narration. The narrator is a delight, going on with patience about the past and the present and the power of language and stories, and about finally caring for someone. The novel explores themes of imperialism, power, and personal identity, the latter especially through the eyes of the ostensible main character, a transgender man named Eolo, whose gender is not what the story is about, but rather his gender is an important part of his identity that informs his decision-making and emotions and his relationships with several other characters. This books is a gem that I, for one, certainly intend to reread, as I read it upon publication.

✨ 5 stars

Review: Peregrine Seas, by R.C. Ballad

Prince Peregrine couldn’t be happier to be kidnapped by pirates. Peregrine wasn’t cut out for the restrictive life of a nobleman – he's hungry for adventure, prone to duelling, and his family refuse to believe he's any kind of man at all. Despite his royal origins, he has more in common with the outcasts and rebels aboard the Cygnus that anyone onshore.He just needs to convince the captain of that before his ransom's paid.
Captain Alastar Macdara knows better than to trust an English prince. He has his hands full keeping his ragged crew together, and the last thing he needs is to be burdened with some foppish dandy—however charming. This particular hostage is more trouble than Alastar planned used to getting his own way, as stubborn as Alastar and not afraid to tell him when he’s wrong. But Alastar knows a thing or two about being an outcast, and his honourable streak refuses to let him send Peregrine back to a life of misery. The ransom might be off, but that doesn’t mean Peregrine is part of the crew.

"The art of negotation."

R.C. Ballad's Peregrine Seas is a fun and quick pirate story featuring a sorta-merman pirate captain and a kidnapped prince who's more than willing to leave his kingdom. Set in our world, this fast-paced novel tells a delicate and funny story about found family, belonging, and making the most of your situation.

The love story between captain and prince develops fairly quickly, born from attraction at first, but it gets interesting beats towards the end. The real gem of this book however is the colorful crew, some of them with intriguing secrets, and the sea serpents and krakens the crew have to face.

The book draws clear inspiration from Our Flag Means Death, and in fact one could definitely depict most of the cast while reading. The tone is the same too, making for a heartfelt tribute.

Peregrine Seas is perfect for a relaxing read.

✨ 3.5 stars

Snippet: Under the Dragon Moon, by Mawce Hanlin

Mael Nguyen doesn’t believe in fate, but he does believe in magic. His entire life revolves around the study of the arcane—spells and rituals, potions and illusions. As far as Mael is concerned, all he needs is a book in one hand and magic in the other. Anything outside of his bookshop, hidden away in the streets of New Orleans, isn’t worth his attention. But when a strange human stumbles into his life and hires him for a job, bringing along his blinding smile and curious magic, Mael finds that Fate is just as dangerous as Magic.
Leo Greyson refuses to believe in fate, but he desperately wishes to believe in magic. As a small time rockstar, full time radio host, Leo has never been one to shy away from experience and adventure. He’s always lived his life on the edge—always moving, never standing still. But when his twin sister is murdered, and he gains custody of her strangely magical daughter, that constant motion comes to a screeching halt. Instead, he is launched into an entirely new world hidden right beneath his nose, and Leo finds himself wondering if Fate really does exist, and if she’s led him right where he needs to be.

“He kissed like a hurricane.”

Mawce Hanlin's Under the Dragon Moon is a sweet romantasy with great character work and a mysterious background plot that promises to take center stage in the next installments of the series. In this first book the focus is on a magical mystery and on the establishment of the main characters’ relationship, motivations, past, and their relationship with friends and family, other than laying the foundation of a pretty complex worldbuilding, with sidhe, Courts, pacts, dragons, and a magic that builds on magical patrons. The politics and lore of this scintillating debut of an urban fantasy are pretty layered, and the prose is fantastic: lyrical at times, at times funny, always very respectful of the many triggering aspects, and littered with references to pop culture. There are quite a few explicit sex scenes.

✨ 4 stars

Snippet: The Water Outlaws, by S.L. Huang

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Unlike bolder friends who flirt with challenging the unequal hierarchies and values of Imperial society, she believes in keeping her head down and doing her job. Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips that carefully-built life away.
Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. Mountain outlaws on the margins of society, the Liangshan Bandits proclaim a belief in justice—for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They’re also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats. Apart, they love like demons and fight like tigers. Together, they could bring down an empire.

"We shall be the storm of silk and steel that shelters all those in need". S.L. Huang's The Water Outlaws is a standalone anti-hero journey that genderbends a classic Chinese novel, Water Margin, mixing things up with interesting magic. It's a violent tale about rebelling against a broken system - one that allows rape and abuse of power, where dissidents are thrown into prison - and making the most of what one has, about finding community even amongst violent people. The cast is huge, but the two main characters, once friends and now possibly on opposite sides, undergo major character development that feels organic and earned. The tale slows down towards the middle only to pick up towards an explosive finale that accounts for all the loose threads.

✨ 4 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water, by Zen Cho

for: banditry, queer wuxia

Snippet: The Shadow Cabinet, by Juno Dawson

Niamh Kelly is dead. Her troubled twin, Ciara, now masquerades as the benevolent witch as Her Majesty's Royal Coven prepares to crown her High Preistess. Suffering from amnesia, Ciara can't remember what she's done--but if she wants to survive, she must fool Niamh's adopted family and friends; the coven; and the murky Shadow Cabinet--a secret group of mundane civil servants who are already suspicious of witches. While she tries to rebuild her past, she realizes none of her past has forgotten her, including her former lover, renegade warlock Dabney Hale.
On the other end of the continent, Leonie Jackman is in search of Hale, rumored to be seeking a dark object of ultimate power somehow connected to the upper echelons of the British government. If the witches can't figure out Hale's machinations, and fast, all of witchkind will be in grave danger--along with the fate of all (wo)mankind.

"You've taken things apart and put them back together". Juno Dawson's The Shadow Cabinet is a good sequel that build on the excellent first book to create another solid, funny, and poignant reflection on feminism, intersectionalism, and incel-like groups. The plot thickens and consequences are reaped; twists and turns keep you on the edge of your seat. This was a page-turner that I devoured in one sitting. The lovely wlw couple from the first book gets some excellent focus.

✨ 4 stars

Review: A Long Time Dead, by Samara Breger

1837. Poppy had always loved the night, which is why it wasn’t too much of a bother to wake one evening in an unfamiliar home far from London, weak and confused and plagued with a terrible thirst for blood, to learn that she could no longer step out into the day. And while vampirism presented several disadvantages, it more than made up for those in its benefits: immortality, a body that could run at speed for hours without tiring, the thrill of becoming a predator, the thing that pulls rabbits from bushes and tears through their fur and flesh with the sharp point of a white fang.
And, of course, Roisin. The mysterious woman who has lived for centuries, who held Poppy through her painful transformation, and who, for some reason, is now teaching her how to adjust to her new, endless life. A tight, lonely, buttoned-up woman, with kindness and care, pressed up behind her teeth. The time they spend together is as transformative to Poppy as the changes in her body, and soon, she finds herself hopelessly, overwhelmingly attached. But Roisin has secrets of her own, and can’t make any promises; not when vengeance must be served. Soon, their little world explodes. Together and apart, they encounter scores of vampires, shifty pirates, conniving opera singers, ancient nobles, glamorous French women, and a found family that throws a very particular sort of party. But overhead, threat looms—one woman who is capable of destroying everything Poppy and Roisin hold dear.

"I want to watch you split the world like an orange and drink the juice". Samara Breger's A Long Time Dead is a phenomenal standalone sapphic vampire tale that reads like the best Anne Rice. Breger's vampires seem to borrow a few things from The Vampire Chronicles, but they're so full of life that it's a joy to read. We're thrown right into the thick of action as Poppy wakes up after being turned and she spends the first part of her new life being helped through the transition by a tragic figure that she immediately comes to love. What follows is a slow and tormented and rich journey towards a found family; a tale about belonging and about overcoming abuse in a relationship.

Poppy isn't a gloomy protagonist; she's a ray of sunshine, and she cares deeply. Even when she faces hardships, she keeps her sunny personality. She's crass at times, but she's so alive, in every way. She loves the joys of food, and in fact the loss of it is one of the first things she bemoans when she realizes that now she has to feed exclusively on blood. Before being turned she was a sex worker, and she's always very candid in her desires. The numerous sex scenes in the book are never gratuitous, and they're so well written.

In general, the prose is fantastic. There are turns of phrase that grip you and amaze you and leave you reeling. Breger plays with the tropes of the genre and crafts a unique tale brimming with exhilarating tidbits and cameos and also fully exploring Catholic guilt. The choice to give very few chapters to Roisin works well, because we're given front seats to the depth of Poppy's devotion. Roisin is driven and consumed by the need for revenge, self-sacrificing; but gradually she finds her will to live again.

The rest of the cast is delightful, from Poppy's oldest friend to the Coven she finds, five vampires that welcome her into their lives and love her unconditionally; from her new mortal maid, just as foul-mouthed as her, to the incredible villain, a despicable and amoral character. Every thread is accounted for, every hint acknowledged and resolved and brought to a satisfying conclusion.

A Long Time Dead is a joyous gothic tale.

✨ 4.5 stars

Review: The Final Strife, by Saara El-Arifi

 

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: it can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.

"A world run by people who think they are better will never be better for everyone". Saara El-Arifi's The Final Strife is a stunning debut with roots in african and arabian mythology that will haunt you and break your heart, exploring issues of xenophobia, class struggle, child abuse and slavery with a deft hand. One of the main characters also has a drug addiction that she must learn to overcome, her need for it born from her past and her terrible living conditions as she's a member of a lower cast.

In this small world, nightly plagued by strong hurricanes, people are divided by the color of their blood, ensuring a reign of oppression that borders on inhumane, with quarterings and a systematic mutilation of an entire caste, rendering the clear-blooded caste mute and handless, relying on a silent language to communicate with each other. The occasional depictions of such brutal acts are vivid, and highlight the injustice and pain and terror the population is feeling. In the backrop of this brewed a revolution that was quelled soon, but it's not too late to change things for the better.

The blood magic system is incredibly well-developed and the snippets of worldbuilding, leading up to major revelations, introduce a world which is much larger that we anticipated, turning what seemed to be a typical "tournament fantasy" into something much more exciting. For the first half of the book the conflict is slow-developing, but things finally kick into high-gear with a couple well-timed revelations and strong moments of characterization. Unfortunately while two of the POV characters have much focus, the third one doesn't get much; I'm hoping she'll be more explored in later installments.

This book is marketed as a wlw friends-to-lovers and while that does happen eventually, and it's beautiful and tender and throughout the book we can see all these little moments as the two POV characters grow close to each other, this is more of a triangle situation where one of the characters is bisexual and first has a relationship with a childhood non-POV male friend, before finally turning to the other female character. Which is fine! Give me some conflict. But it's marketed in such a way that I don't expect the male character to be a love interest at all, and when it happend it threw me for a loop for a good chunk of the book.

The Final Strife is an incredile novel about oppression.

✨ 4 stars

Review: Her Majesty's Royal Coven, by Juno Dawson

 

At the dawn of their adolescence, on the eve of the summer solstice, four young girls--Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle--took the oath to join Her Majesty's Royal Coven, established by Queen Elizabeth I as a covert government department. Now, decades later, the witch community is still reeling from a civil war and Helena is now the reigning High Priestess of the organization. Yet Helena is the only one of her friend group still enmeshed in the stale bureaucracy of HMRC. Elle is trying to pretend she's a normal housewife, and Niamh has become a country vet, using her powers to heal sick animals. In what Helena perceives as the deepest betrayal, Leonie has defected to start her own more inclusive and intersectional coven, Diaspora. And now Helena has a bigger problem. A young warlock of extraordinary capabilities has been captured by authorities and seems to threaten the very existence of HMRC. With conflicting beliefs over the best course of action, the four friends must decide where their loyalties lie: with preserving tradition, or doing what is right.

This isn't just a witchy tale. Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven is brimming with discussions of gender and intersectionality that enrich the narration and make it a unique story. The major conflict of the story reveals itself at the halfway point, turning an already interesting storyline about fate and fatalism into a heartfelt defense of the right to be what we are. I won't name the transgender character because their identity isn't mentioned in the summary and the story is constructed in such a way to make it an earth-shattering reveal, but I have to note that I had accidentally spoiled myself and yet that knowledge made the experience of reading the first half much more poignant.

The once tight-knit group of friends at the center of the narration is made up of well-rounded, flawed characters. Their relationship is at times fraught, but always bound by the shared trauma of a past war which is very much still present, simmering in the background and sometimes steering their choices. Of the four named in the summary, Helena and Niamh take pretty much center stage, their actions driving the book to its brutal conclusion. One could hope the other two will feature much more in the next book: Elle's side-plot has some thorny complexities; Leonie's coven needs to be fleshed out more. Leonie's wlw relationship also took the backseat against the focused plot. But there were tender moments, and conflict, and it seems to be setting up for a bigger spotlight.

I must warn that the narrative is firmly set in our present. Something in the summary made me think it would be set in the past, and I saw I wasn't the only reader thinking that, so it bears warning. I loved the backstory, the history of the coven going back to Elizabeth I and her mother. I'm definitely biased because I love Elizabeth I, but it seemed like the perfect starting point for the narrative. The book also strongly reminds me of the Freeform series Motherland: Fort Salem, which is a plus as far as I'm concerned.

The book features a transphobic character who is pretty vocal about their hate, so one should proceed with caution.

Her Majesty's Royal Coven is a moving journey that isn't afraid to pull any punches.

✨ 4 stars

Review: Peter Darling, by Austin Chant

 

Ten years ago, Peter Pan left Neverland to grow up, leaving behind his adolescent dreams of boyhood and resigning himself to life as Wendy Darling. Growing up, however, has only made him realize how inescapable his identity as a man is.
But when he returns to Neverland, everything has changed: the Lost Boys have become men, and the war games they once played are now real and deadly. Even more shocking is the attraction Peter never knew he could feel for his old rival, Captain Hook—and the realization that he no longer knows which of them is the real villain.

Sometimes you see a book's premise and you just know that you have to read it. Peter Darling by Austin Chant is a dazzling novel that takes your hands and asks you to believe in fairies once more. I've never been particularly taken with Peter Pan, but this retelling and sequel manages to strike a chord deep within oneself. If you ever felt you couldn't belong, this is the book for you. It's a heartfelt tale about finding oneself and growing up and finding companionship despite all adversity.

The book starts in medias res, the past slowly unraveling as we witness Peter's return to Neverland, his first meeting with Hook after many years, as we sense the attraction between the two grow from swordfighting to more and more. Theirs is a pairing I can honestly say has never crossed my mind, especially given their respective ages in the original novels, but Austin Chant makes it work perfectly. Peter, grown up and terribly unhappy with the shackles he was forced to don once more when he returned to his family, finally decides he can't take it anymore and returns to Neverland with the help of an aged-up Tinkerbell, always nonchalant in her cruelty and terribly fond and protective of Peter. Neverland isn't as it once was, and Peter falls easily into old schemes, unable to change. But it's not his fault, at least not consciously: the island is a haven, and as such clouds memories. It's only with the help of the Fairy Queen that Peter is able to unveil his past.

It's a past he doesn't want to relive, nor return to. And yet it's him that awakens in Hook the man's own lost memories, lost to decades spent on the island. James Hook, once he remembers who he was and too his own trials, is a softie. He just wants to protect Peter, and take him back home, save them both from the danger of losing oneself in a fantasy. Peter doesn't want to, not when only in Neverland he can truly be himself, but with the help of Hook he realizes he can be himself even in the real world, or rather, he can be himself with Hook and the world is none the wiser.

Peter is transgender; his life before Neverland, and when he bent back home before the beginning of the novel, is described with infinite kindess. His parents are blinded by society's expectations, and can't see how they are harming him. His brothers, too, are blind to it, but we don't really see how they act in the years leading to his decision to leave again.

One thing I would have liked to see more is a deeper exploration of Neverland and the way it works. The fairies are eerie creatures, not the ones we know from folklore; a kraken inhabits the waters. The island is elsewhere and exerts a certain kind of control over its denizens, but Hook often mentions known pirates, and there's a treasure buried on land. The island creates illusions to keep happy those who find themselves there. I wouldn't have minded a longer work, if it meant to flesh out more these aspects.

As it stands, the book is a lovely tale, heartwarming and profound, that will leave you giddy.

✨ 4 stars