ARC Review: The Fealty of Monsters, by Ladz

Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, twenty-three-year-old Sasza and his father have established themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. But there’s a problem: Sasza is a vampire, and vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance. What the aristocracy doesn’t know, after all, cannot hurt them. Unfortunately, Sasza is far more involved than a stealth vampire should be. Not only does he work to quell the rumors of the vampires’ responsibility for an unsolved massacre, his lover is also the pro-proletariat Ilya, the Empire’s Finance Minister, who tries to recruit Sasza into the same cult hunting him.
Then—the Emperor declares war against the Vampire States. Diplomacy has failed. Sasza quickly learns that he will do anything to preserve peace–including giving in to the monstrosity he spent so many years concealing from even himself.

My thanks to the author for providing an ARC copy.

Ladz's The Fealty of Monsters is a gory retelling of the Russian Revolution, with monstrous vampires and even more monstrous politicians. We follow three POV characters as tensions amongst the Empire and independent vampire states are ramped up by an incident that seems tailored to ignite a war. The main character, Sasza, battles with his own depravity and the ambitions of others, while coming to terms with his relationship with a much older member of the government.

This is a highly political book, with characters who have complex motivations, from the ambitious princess to Sasza's addicted father, from the traitorous Minister to the soldiers who have very different ideas about their role as protectors; not to mention the intriguing vampire doctor. Characters share a past that is carefully unveiled in some cases, giving tantalizing glimpses. The court is full of intrigue, and war seems inevitable; the conflict between the poverty of the people and the excesses of the aristocracy was also done well, leading to an explosive finale that leaves the reader on the edge of their seat and begging for the next book in the series.

The book is very crude, with an evocative prose that leaves nothing to the imagination, be it sexual acts or murder. It comes with a very helpful list of trigger warnings, which the reader should pay every attention to. The vampires in this book are not refined creatures, as there are some types which are truly monstrous, insectoid creatures who engorge themselves on blood and gore. This was a very refreshing take on the usual vampire trope, more reminiscent of the classics.

The book comes with illustrations from the artist Soren Häxan, but the ARC copy didn't contain them.

The Fealty of Monsters is a solid horror story with political overtones.

✨ 4 stars

Review: Cursebreakers, by Madeleine Nakamura

Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic and disgraced ex-physician, has discovered a conspiracy. Someone is inflicting magical comas on the inhabitants of the massive city of Astrum, and no one knows how or why. Caught between a faction of scheming magical academics and an explosive schism in the ranks of Astrum’s power-hungry military, Adrien is swallowed by the growing chaos. Alongside Gennady, an unruly, damaged young soldier, and Malise, a brilliant healer and Adrien’s best friend, Adrien searches for a way to stop the spreading curse before the city implodes. He must survive his own bipolar disorder, his self-destructive tendencies, and his entanglement with the man who doesn’t love him back.

"In my greater and lesser moments, I fear that I must be fated for sainthood". Madeleine Nakamura's Cursebreakers is a quiet standalone debut about overcoming conspiracies and living with mental illness. Adrien is an extraordinary protagonist, sharp and hurting, haunted by wrong choices and by his bipolar disorder, which is here called akrasia. A skilled magician and a former healer, with a caustic personality, he finds himself drawn right into the thick of action while being a non-combatant in his forties who nonetheless strives to do the right thing. The exploration of his bipolar disorder, and later, of his addiction, is heartbreaking and poignant: we see the pain and desperation and the anguish of not being believed due to his condition; we suffer with him.

The supporting cast is equally good, painted in vivid strokes that make them jump out of the pages. Adrien's reluctant ally, a member of the dangerous militia that oversees the city's security, is such a complicated character, perennially angry and impulsive, but ultimately he endears himself with his desire to do and be better; the dynamic that grows between them is a joy to read. Adrien's best friend, a sapphic healer who helps him combat the worse effects of his bipolar disorder, is another exquisitely rendered character; her love for him is tangible, and so is her despair for his well-being. Then there's the man Adrien is in painfully unrequited love with, a fellow scholar who has agreed to be Adrien's keeper when the worst hits. Their dynamic is painful and vivid, Adrien's ache for him a constant throughout the book, and the resolution of their strange and frustating relationship is such a refreshing, well-executed take.

The resolution of the main conflict is also executed masterfully, with a final showdown that keeps you on the edge of your seat. However, there were whispers of deus-ex-machina and the world isn't as well-developed as I would have liked, while still being painted well enough for the purposes of a standalone novel. The relationship between the soldiers and their bonded raches, especially, could have warranted some more focus, but it was fascinating in what we could see. The setting of a magical school from the point of view of one of its professors, and the approach to the study of magic, was especially refreshing.

The prose is gorgeous, concise and at times archaic; I devoured this book in a matter of hours.

Cursebreakers is an extraordinary debut that deals with issues often going unseen in fantasy novels.

✨ 4.5 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Councillor, by E.J. Beaton

for: addiction, academia

Snippet: Merciless Waters, by Rae Knowles

Aboard the ship Scylla, there is no future or past. Jaq, her fickle lover Lily, and their all-female crew exist in an endless present. It’s better this way. At least it keeps Lily by Jaq’s side, where she belongs. But the meddling gods care little for Jaq’s longing, and despite her protective rituals, their punishment arrives all the same: a man, adrift on the open ocean. Delivered to snatch Lily from Jaq’s arms forever.
Jaq knows what to do. She’s lost Lily before. Her lover will return—when this interloper, this distraction, is snuffed out. But Jaq’s murderous schemes may not be enough. The intruder’s presence infects her crew with a plague her spells cannot cure: memory. And as the women recall how they came to Scylla, their minds bend one by one towards revenge.

"We crave violence, so we swallow violent men". Rae Knowles' Merciless Waters is a sapphic novella with horror undertones that are inspired by the figure of the rusalka. The narrator lulls the reader with her story, and the slow return of her memories, while thoughts of vengeance tint the narration with blood and gore. The lyrical prose and the oneiric images make for a little gem of a story, where violence against women is punished with relish. The sea krait was a delightful addition.

✨ 4 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* Providence Girls, by Morgan Dante

for: sea horrors, existential dread

Review: Reborn, by Seth Haddon

When the Rezwyn Empire mysteriously cuts diplomatic ties with the Kingdom of Usleth, merchant lord Oren Radek is sent to investigate. But when he discovers a coup brewing against the emperor, Radek's life and his country's safety is suddenly under threat. Izra Dziove, visionary advisor to the Rezwyn Emperor, is trying to hold the turbulent Rezwyn court together while being plagued by dreams of his fated man. But when Izra’s adversaries launch an attack on the diplomatic party from Usleth, he is forced to take action to protect them and prevent a war.
Forced to trust one another, both men must put aside their differences to save the future of both their nations, while also contending with the growing attraction between them— all while trying to understand their mysterious connection and the forces guiding their shared destiny. Can their fated love change the destiny of nations?

"To survive something as final as death". Seth Haddon's Reborn is a companion novel to the author's debut Reforged, set in the same world, but with a different set of characters. The world-building grows in depth and scope, with the introducion of new ways of thinking, new gods, new lore. The main characters are fated to be, and the fact that only one of them is aware of it creates an interest contrast; they are also opposites, in a way, and that makes for a good dynamic.

The plot structure was better than in the previous book, but the editing could use some work; the mistakes were jarring at times, and took me right out of the flow of reading. The supporting cast was less fleshed out too, which is a shame because that was a definite plus of the first book. It's like in fleshing out more the main characters' relationship, the author had to resort to making the other characters utterly monodimensional.

Reborn is a step down from its predecessor.

✨ 3.5 stars

Review: In the Roses of Pieria, by Anna Burke

When Clara Eden is offered a job as an archivist working for eccentric estate owner Agatha Montague, she thinks her prayers have been answered. Soon, she finds herself sucked into her research world, captivated by a romantic correspondence thousands of years old. But as her feelings for her employer's assistant, Fiadh, deepen, so does her suspicion that something about Agatha Montague isn't right. Unfortunately for Clara, it is far too late to run by the time her suspicions are confirmed.

"I'll paint your face into the histories". Anna Burke's In the Roses of Pieria is a sapphic horror novel with a complex worldbuilding and academic overtones that really enrich the experience. The story is interspersed with a millennia-old correspondence that tugs at the heartstrings with its lyrical passages and references to Sappho's fragments, while slowly unease creeps into Clara and the readers alike as the main character realizes the truth behind the letters.

The fictional Nektopolis, created by the author as a backdrop to such an ancient love story, is so vividly described that makes one wonder whether it's real; the novel begins with an academic discussion that goes on for pages and sets the atmosphere well. The genre-savvy reader will understand immediately what takes Clara a little more time to wrap her head around, but the novel is still full of surprises with an exciting (and mildly horrific) take on the fae.

As the story unfolds, so does the love story between Clara and Fiadh, speeding through the unraveling horror making itself known. Fiadh is a compelling love interest, mysterious and intricate in her loyalties, but fierce in her passions. The adventurous second part of the novel allows to explore her more as a character, and revelations abound. The story, while pretty self-contained, ends with an abrupt cliffhanger that leaves you wanting the second installment in the duology immediately.

In the Roses of Pieria is a gloriously weird sapphic vampire story.

✨ 5 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* A Long Time Dead, Samara Breger

for: sapphic vampires, love through the ages

Review: Legacy of the Vermillion Blade, by Jay Tallsquall

Talon Cour-Vermane is not only the sole inheritor of his House’s lands, titles, and political power, but also of the pact his family has forged with darkness through countless generations. From birth, Talon’s father tethered his son’s life to the family’s bloodline and his own ambitions of power, but everything changes when a new blacksmith and his young apprentice, Richen, join the staff at the Cour-Vermane estate. With their fateful meeting, Talon’s life changes course forever, derailing the meticulously laid out existence planned for him. From his family’s estates and the countryside of Eleryon to the extents of the Xallian Empire and the dwarven kingdom of Lymehold, Talon discovers the different aspects of love, true family, and himself as he battles his cursed blood and the shackles to darkness his father bound him with.

"Sometimes all you had in life was blind faith". Jay Tallsquall's Legacy of the Vermillion Blade trudges on as we follow the life of the main character, a lord's son who was possessed by powers bigger than him and attempts to free himself from them, while looking for his lost love and making connections along the way.

It's a lovely exploration of asexuality (especially towards the middle of the novel, as an older Talon explores his boundaries) but it's not a good fantasy novel. The narration jumps from one year to another to decades later with no real effort to make a cohesive story, only painting vignettes and telling us to trust that things are advancing. When it takes its time to breathe and explore the characters and situations, it's good, but that happens rarely.

The worldbuilding is confusing, not really clear, and the main character's father is almost cartoonish in the depiction of his villainy. This could have been a great novel, with some editing; it's rare we get a homoromantic asexual protagonist, so I was very excited for it, but it didn't deliver on the speculative fiction side.

Legacy of the Vermillion Blade is a book with a good premise and some great representation.

✨ 3.5 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Perfect Assassin, by K.A. Doore

for: sword fights, asexual protagonist

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

Review: A Power Unbound, by Freya Marske

Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, would love a nice, safe, comfortable life. After the death of his twin sister, he thought he was done with magic for good. But with the threat of a dangerous ritual hanging over every magician in Britain, he’s drawn reluctantly back into that world. Now Jack is living in a bizarre puzzle-box of a magical London townhouse, helping an unlikely group of friends track down the final piece of the Last Contract before their enemies can do the same. And to make matters worse, they need the help of writer and thief Alan Ross.
Cagey and argumentative, Alan is only in this for the money. The aristocratic Lord Hawthorn, with all his unearned power, is everything that Alan hates. And unfortunately, Alan happens to be everything that Jack wants in one gorgeous, infuriating package. When a plot to seize unimaginable power comes to a head at Cheetham Hall―Jack’s ancestral family estate, a land so old and bound in oaths that it’s grown a personality as prickly as its owner―Jack, Alan and their allies will become entangled in a night of champagne, secrets, and bloody sacrifice . . . and the foundations of magic in Britain will be torn up by the roots before the end.

"Broken items wanted to be whole". Freya Marske's A Power Unbound sticks the landing with this exhilarating conclusion to the Last Binding trilogy. A new set of main characters takes center stage, but this time the protagonists of the two previous volumes are more entangled with the plot and even undergo more development as this big, queer found family races against time to unveil a plot that could destroy everything.

After the enclosed setting of the second book, we find ourselves once again in England, between estates and magical parliament; we also see poorer parts of the city as Alan, who was introduced in the previous book, is an immigrant with a big family he works hard to support. This allows the book to introduce themes of class and power dynamics that work very well in the general context of the series and give it more depth. The journalist who's secretly a writer of queer erotica finds his perfect partner in bisexual Lord Hawthorn, as the two of them slowly dismantle their walls over the course of the book and a couple of intense sex scenes.

Every loose thread from the first two books is accounted for in this finale that asks questions about family, power, and abuse. The magic is made bigger and more interesting as the roots of power are explained and explored; every character has a moment to shine, from the medium that facilitates a heart-wrenching heart-to-heart with a ghost, to the nobleman who once thought he wasn't as powerful as his peers, from the seer to the powerful actress to the one who got violently torn from his own magic. And then there's Alan, who isn't magical but who can disrupt magic, and the surrounding cast of magicians, friends and foes, enstranged family and abusive brothers, and mothers who'll tear the world apart for their children.

The book weaves a rich tapestry that's much more deeper for its focus on land and contracts, the places where we live that protect us, and the free contracts between two people. It's a honest exploration of unconventional desires, woven together by the books written by Alan and mentioned in the first two installments: a thread that slowly reveals itself and makes the whole series almost a metanarrative.

A Power Unbound is a powerful exploration of love and the ties that bind.

✨ 4 stars

📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Magpie Lord, by K.J. Charles

for: Edwardian England, power dynamics

List: Most Anticipated Books of 2024 - January to June

To usher in the new year, here are my most anticipated books for the first half of the year, in order of publication.

Publication Date: January 18th 2024  

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: January 16th 2024  

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: January 18th 2024 

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

 

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Publication Date: February 15th 2024 

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: March 5th 2024 

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: March 26th 2024 

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: April 23rd 2024 

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: May 28th 2024  

HERE you can find the Goodreads page. 

 

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Publication Date: June 11st 2024  

HERE you can find the Goodreads page.

List: Best Books of 2023

2024 is coming! Here are my favorite books of this year, with links to my reviews.

 

 

 

✨ 4.5 stars
You can find my review here.

 

 

✨ 4.5 stars
You can find my review here.

 

   ✨ 4.5 stars
    You can find my review here.

 

 

   ✨ 4 stars
   You can find my review here.

 

 

 

✨ 5 stars
You can find my review here.

 

 

 

✨ 4.5 stars
You can find my review here.

 

 

 

✨ 4.5 stars
You can find my review here.

 

 

   ✨ 5 stars
   You can find my review here.

 

 

   ✨ 5 stars
   You can find my review here.

 

 

   ✨ 5 stars
   You can find my review here.

 

 

   ✨ 4.5 stars
   You can find my review here.