Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar - A Sugary Sweet retelling of The Nutcracker

 The Nutcracker is one of my favorite stories, my Grammy would read it to me in the days leading up to Christmas every year when I was a child and as an adult, I kept that tradition up with my own children. So when I saw that someone was making a mature retelling I knew I had to read it. 

Marietta is a privileged Edwardian young woman living in Nottingham. She wants for absolutely nothing materially and yet she is unsatisfied with her life. The only thing that gives her true happiness, that gives her a true sense of freedom is ballet and her father has determined that after a Christmas recital that will be taken from her as well. Shortly before Christmas, a mysterious stranger enters her life, a Mr. Drosselmeyer from Germany and he quickly becomes enraptured with Marietta assuring her that he will make her his own, he casts Marietta into a world of magic, wonder, and violence hellbent on bending her to his will. What Drosselmeyer didn't count on is Marietta forging bonds with two women of incredible strength. And that they will turn the tables on Drosselmeyer. 

I have to say the one big complaint I have with this book right away. It was maybe too sickenly sweet (quite literally). The descriptions of this over-the-top world of confections and pastries were absolutely magical at first, but then about halfway through the book, I decided that I never wanted to eat sweets again.  Everything was just drenched in chocolate or marzipan (lots of freaking marzipan, I think it's actually when Marietta's hair is done with marzipan in it that I actually decided that I wasn't going to eat a sweet again for a very long time). Like we get it Marietta is stuck in Candyland Hell.  

Okay moving on. I enjoyed this retelling, in terms of creating a mature Nutcracker Kuzniar hit the mark. I do wish there had been a bit more character development, we learn about each of the characters in Everwood's backstories through the course of conversations Marietta has with each of them and they really are very short bursts. They certainly serve their purpose in explaining each character's motivation but I don't feel like we got a complete picture of each of them. Especially, the Soldier, Captain Legat, and even The Mouse King himself. 

Overall this was a good book I just wish the author had maybe done less with describing the scenes and more with the characters themselves.

February's Reading List

    Am I a little late posting this? Yes. Do I care? Actually, yes as I didn't get through as many of the books as I had wanted to last month. I got through about half though so I'd say that's pretty good. And to be fair I read a ton more on top of that as well so that's saying something. I'll be carrying over The Monk, The Taoist I Ching, and a Bond Undone for this month and adding a couple of more. The new additions are eArcs, so some aren't published yet but when currently available for purchase I'll add that information. 

Time travel, Edgar Allen Poe, and a murder mystery, I don't believe that you can go very wrong with that set up so I'm looking forward to reading this one! This is also currently available for sale and you can pick it up Here  

I've probably said it before but I'll say it again I love retellings and the Nutcracker is one of my favorite stories of all time. It is one of those stories that I have truly fond memories of, so a new updated version of this classic is right up my alley. I'm about halfway through it currently so hopefully, a review will be forthcoming. You can also grab a copy of this one currently Here

This is a short story so I really have no excuse for not reading this yet. Actually, I will probably kick it out today because it's probably the most unique book on my TBR list currently. This one can also be purchased Here

I'd honestly never heard of this until I saw the show on Netflix, which I enjoyed immensely so I'm really looking forward to reading this. This is an eArc you can pre-order it though over Here

That rounds out my list, given that it's already the 14th though I highly doubt I'll get through all of them though, especially given how many I carried over from last month. 

I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss by Nagase Sarasa AND The Faraway Paladin by Kanata Yanagino - An Isekai light novel double posting!

     I kicked out a couple of light novels yesterday that I had sitting on my Kindle so this will review will actually be two books, they are both Isekai's, although they are vastly different from each other in terms of storyline and characters. On that note on to the reviews!

Aileen D'Autriche seems to have everything going for her, she's engaged to the Crown Prince, beautiful, and spoiled. Life is pretty good. Until Lilia, the Sacred Maiden ruins everything for her by stealing away her fiance and it seems possibly her life as Aileen has realized that she hasn't always been Aileen. Remembering her past life as a sickly Japanese girl who died far too young she realizes she's been reborn into one of her favorite Otome games as the villainess. With only three months to go before she dies at the hands of the Demon King Aileen sets out to change the game. Along the way she finds allies, love (of course), and that Lilia isn't the noble heroine she appears to be.

I love isekai so it wasn't too surprising that I enjoyed this, what I enjoyed the most has to be how actually evil the "heroine" really turns out to be. Plus, it makes you wonder did Aileen's actions cause the heroine to become evil or was always hiding her less than heroic personality behind a legend that assumes she's good because in the legend the Sacred Maiden is good.

I also enjoyed Aileen's character because of her take no shit attitude. It does seem to have developed because of her status as the youngest child and her father's overbearing personality but it made this much more enjoyable to read. She never takes anything lying down. And when dealing with the likes of her ex and Lilia that's an important personality trait to have.

The *only* issue I had with this was that sometimes it was difficult to follow who was saying what in the dialogue. I had to reread portions enough time that normally since such a small issue would garner this a 4.5 stars rounded to 5 but it happened so often that I'm giving it 4. The other thing is I really wished there was more about Claude (the Demon King) in this. I hope the next book will center a little bit more on Claude because he seems like he could be a really interesting and complex character given his backstory.

It's hard not to compare this to My Next Life as a Villainess and while I love that one I found this to be just a little bit more mature and just a tiny bit better than it, that being said if you liked My Next Life as a Villainess I can almost guarantee you'll enjoy this. I'd heard about the green light for an anime as well so after reading this I'm really looking forward to it!

And of course thanks to NetGalley and Yen Press!

Will wakes up in the body of an infant, he recalls a past life where not only do both of his parents die but he saw himself as a failure of a son due to his being a shut-in. What's worse is not only does he know that he himself has died, as well, but his new guardians are a mummy, a ghost, and a skeleton. Being an adult for all intents and purposes trapped in an infant's body is bad enough being unable to protect himself against the undead is even worse. Survival instincts quickly take over though and Will if not embracing his situation makes the best of it.

As he ages, he finds his new guardians to not only be wonderful caretakers but finds the family that he recalls rejecting in his previous life in them. He loves them and would do anything to protect them, even sacrifice himself.

So I watched the anime of this (or at least part of it) a bit ago, to be honest, I didn't really remember watching it until I started reading this and I was like, "Huh this is so familiar! Have I already read it?" What that says about the anime I won't say right now as it's been long enough since I watched it that a re-watch is in order. That being said, one thing I do remember though is that the anime is extremely in line with the book, which if you are an old school anime fan like myself, who got stuck watching pieced together and/or highly/censored anime in the 90's you know that no matter how long it's been since production companies here in the states embraced that fans want the original uncut versions of these shows it's still nice to see it happening.

What I don't recall though is this being a pretty mature isekai discussing Will's depression during his first life, causing him to be a shut-in (or a NEET) and how relatable much of what he says regarding this time is. Especially considering that most of us have been stuck in some sort of quarantine or another for the last couple of years. At one point Will says that he was "Alive but not living." and that statement really resonated with me.

Gus, Mary, and Blood are wonderful characters as well. I'm 100% sure Will having undead "parents" is what drew me to the anime in the first place, it's a very unique (not necessarily original but definitely unique) concept in terms of family groupings. But honestly, they are such great parents! They are loving and supportive in the best possible ways and as a parent definitely the type of parents that I strive to be.

All in all, this was a fantastic book and I'll be picking up the second one. This is a reprint of the original publication (2016) and I think this was perfect timing given the storyline. Will gives a voice to the kind of despair many of us have felt during the quarantine. Honestly, the only drawback I found was that because I had watched the anime I wasn't as compelled to read it as I think I would have been otherwise. Like I said the anime follows the book rather well so sometimes I'd feel like skipping over things that I remembered vividly from the anime. That is definitely no fault of the books though.

And I want to thank Edelweiss and J-Novel Club for allowing me to read this fantastic light novel!

Call of the Bone Ships by R.J. Barker - Joron Twiner is my hero.

At the end of the first book in the Tide Child series I just kinda teared up, at the end of this one of was full-on crying. Not bawling mind you, however, given the progression of the tear factor I have a feeling I'll be bawling at the end of the third one.

The second book finds us back on the Tide Child with Lucky Meas and Joron Twiner and their whole crew dedicated to the cause of peace within the Hundred Isles. Our heroes (cause that's what they are) find a ship floundering and being the heroes they stop to assist. To their horror, they find a hold full of half-dead people and gullaime in the hold of the ship. This and the discovery that Safe Harbor, a free island intermixing peoples from both The Hundred Isles and the Gaunt Islands has been destroyed and the people living there taken captive, sets our daring crew off on a mission to discover just what Meas's mother has planned for these poor souls. The answer is far more horrific than anyone could have possibly imagined.

Joron Twiner and Gullaime have been officially established as two of my favorite characters of all time after finishing this book. Joron's character growth has been one of the many reasons I've enjoyed this series so much. Watching him go from an alcoholic with a death wish to a respected Deck Keeper has been inspirational. In this book, we discover that Gullaime harbors a secret that could literally destroy the world and I've enjoyed watching its relationship with Joron blossom because of this as well. They are a pair of unlikely heroes. 

The second book also builds on the world and lore, mythology as well without being I guess overbearing. We discover little bits and pieces of the puzzle that make up what the Caller is and even Meas's role in that lore/mythology as well as the story unfolds. It's just not all thrown at us at once. And I enjoy that. There is actually a lot going on in this book, sure there is the big bad, Meas's mom and the others in power who want to continue the wars, as well as the evolving of the relationships between the characters and the development of the characters as individuals. 

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the review of the first book but even if I did I think it bears repeating that I almost didn't buy the first one. Every time I walked into Barnes and Noble I'd pick it up, read the back, and put it down. Wash, rinse, repeat for months. It was finally my husband who added it to my stack because he said I obviously wanted to read it. I'm eternally grateful he did. The Tide Child series isn't the "perfect" fantasy series but it's damn close. Barker has created a world like none that I've read before. His character development is almost flawless. The pacing of the books (so far) has been spot on. I do not believe I could find anything wrong with these books even if I wanted to, which I don't because they have become one of my favorite things of all time. So if you've been sitting on this one I really cannot recommend it enough. 

On one hand, I really can't wait to finish this series up on the other hand I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in this world so I'll be sad once I finish the last book and leave it.

Neil Gaiman's Chivalry Illustrated by Colleen Doran - This was such a wonderful pick me up after a long day!

 

This was an adorably funny story about an old woman who comes across the Holy Grail in a thrift shop. Deciding it would look perfect on her mantle she purchases it and brings it home only to have Sir Galahad show up looking for it. Bartering ensues. 

I loved the story, I laughed out loud several times and Mrs. Whitaker was such a sweetheart. But I think what I really loved the most about this was actually Doran's explanation of what a labor of love this was at the end. I truly appreciated it more after reading that. Especially just how much thought she had put into the art styles she would use. And it all paid off beautifully because the illustrations are wonderful! I think the styles that she finally settled on fit the story perfectly!

A huge thank you to Edelweiss and Penguin Random House for the eArc of this graphic novel! 

An Illustrated Guide to Welsh Monsters and Mythical Beasts by Collette J. Ellis - A simply beautiful book

 

I try to keep my New Years Resolutions pretty simple, things I know I'm going to accomplish so I'm not setting myself up for failure. My 2022 resolutions were therefore to read more books on Folklore and mythology from across the globe as I previously really only focused on Japanese mythology (Japanese history was my major in college at one point so their mythologies and folklore were easy to focus on) and to finish reading the many "classic" books I own. I've done a pretty good job keeping up with the Folklore/mythology portion of that resolution and this was such a delightful little book that helped me further it. 

    It really is just a short high-level overview of the various monsters, spirits, and beasts that make up the mythology of Wales and of course, the Arthurian legend however it was still highly informative for only being fifty-two pages long. Many of these creatures would be familiar to most people through either their own culture's versions of them or through pop culture references ranging from books (of course) to video games. I found it extremely interesting that a lot of the monsters found in many of my favorite video game franchises have their origins in these tales and I kinda can't wait to replay many of them with the new knowledge acquired from this book! 

   The forward and introduction to this book I found to be possibly one of the best I've read in books of this nature. I'm not a big person on quotes but I found two that I believed were important enough to include here and really whenever speaking on these topics in the introduction by Sian Powell The first was "There should never be a "correct" version of a story or single description of a monster."  And honestly, I feel on one level that is self-explanatory and yet such an important distinction to make. Being an avid gamer I will never get the giant balls of evil fluff that make up the Cockatrices in the Final Fantasy Tactics franchise. They are actually some of my favorite monsters in the game. You'd be hard-pressed however to find some similarity between Ellis's Cockatrices and Square-Enix's and that's kind of what makes these monsters wonderful. We all have different versions of them in our heads. And they are all "correct". 

    In the next paragraph, Powell expands upon this idea "One of my favourite things about folklore is that similar stories and creatures can be found in various cultures across the world. This is proof to me that human beings are linked by a key motivation, storytelling and the oral tradition, no matter where we are from. But for all that beauty in similarity, there is also the danger of loss if we do not celebrate some of the differences too." Again, rather self-explanatory but an important distinction to make. The loss of culture I believe begins with the loss of a culture's folklore and mythology. These stories, fairy tales to us today, are the basis for many of the morals and values that a culture possesses. I also believe that they make up the "heart" of a culture so to speak. If we ignore celebrating the distinctions between these then we risk losing the culture that created them, no matter how similar one culture's folklore may be to another's the differences are what marks them as being distinctly theirs. And that should be celebrated and even cherished. 

And I cannot write a review of this without mentioning the gorgeous art included. Ellis was able to capture the snarl of a dragon and the terrifying visage of the Angelystor beautifully. Her Morgen (mermaid) is quite possibly one of the coolest depictions of a mermaid I've ever seen. Honestly, it's truly badass and I want a print of it. I have to say though the drawings that stood out the most to me though were any that included winged creatures, they are incredibly detailed and her drawing of a Pooka is by far my favorite in the book, to be fair on that count Pooka are some of my favorite little faes so I am a tad bit bias but still. 

I honestly cannot wait to purchase this book and I want to thank Edelweiss and the people at Eye of Newt publishing for the eArc, this book was truly a treat! 

The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates - A ghost story, wrapped up in a murder mystery, wrapped up in a giant hug!

 

First of all, I just want to say that the title of this book is very clever. One of those where you get to a certain point in the book and you say, "Ahh you sly fox I see what you did there." and it ups your enjoyment of the book immensely. So really like two of those stars are simply there because of the cleverness of the title in relation to the content of the book. The rest are because it's a ghost story wrapped up in a murder mystery wrapped up in a giant hug. 

Leigh Harker lives alone, just as she likes it in her giant home; made for a family of far more than one. Estranged from her sister she lives a solitary existence of routine, heading to work at the same time every day and returning home at the same time to sit down to her TV dinner, a cup of tea, and her one hobby of quilt making. She's lived in her home for fifteen years, has always felt she was at home there but that suddenly changes one night when the "Intruder" appears. The Intruder is the very thing nightmares are made of; long-dead gray hair, gnarled hands, white dead eyes, and a mouth full of terrifying teeth it makes the climb up Leigh's stairs every night to her bedroom door where it harasses her, forcing her to finally take refuge in her living room. After days of this Leigh has had enough and she decides that she and the Intruder are going to have a stand-off. Leigh's life is never the same afterward. 

Coates's take on what a "haunting" is was original, even as you start to understand that not all is what it seems in Leigh's home it's still a complete shock when you realize what has been going on. There are just enough red herrings thrown out to keep the book moving forward without losing any of the spooky atmospheres that center around the house that the two main characters love dearly. 

A big drawback for me to a lot of ghost stories is there is at least one time where I am screaming at the protagonist that they are doing something incredibly stupid and that does happen a lot at the beginning of the book and Coates manages to turn that on its head when the explanation as to why Leigh does or does not do something comes about. It's really quite brilliant actually. 

For me, though it's the Happy Ending (as with most of my books). I've found that the few of Coates's books that I have read (I plan on reading more I just never seem to get around to it) are somehow terrifying but still manage to be incredibly sweet and heartwarming. A few years ago I stumbled across a book of Victorian Ghost Stories written by Women (I swear that's the actual title or pretty damn close), there were terrifying yes, but they all had some sort of heartwarming endearment to them in the end. The dead soldier who terrifies the neighborhood who was just coming home to apologize to his father, a mother who died but had something to tell her daughter. Stuff like that. Coates's books (the ones I have read) seem to very much be in the same vein. There is more to them than just trying to scare you into never sleeping again. 

I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves a good ghost story or even a murder mystery because that's what it truly is at its heart. Sure yeah, there's ghosts and a terrifying house that may or may not be evil but really that's just window dressing to a murder mystery with an ending that even though I picked out who the killer was as soon as they were presented I could not for the life of me figure out how the hell Coates was going to make it work. Blew my freaking mind because it was such a simple explanation and yet I never even thought of it.

The Shadows Between Us - So Cheesy It was Adorable!

 

Alessandra is sick to death of a lot of things; she's sick of playing second fiddle to her beautiful but empty-headed sister, she's sick of her father using his daughters as a form of currency, and she's sick of living in a kingdom that allows these things to happen. So Alessandra has a plan and it only has three simple steps: 

1. Woo the King, which should be easy for her men as fall at her feet. 

2. Marry the King. This is simply the next natural step after the wooing. 

3. Kill the King and take the Throne. She's already killed once this should be easy enough.

What Alessandra doesn't count on is ending up in a palace crawling with people who want to see the King dead for their own reasons, a curse on the King that makes it almost impossible to kill him anyway, and oh yeah she actually likes him. 

Everything about this book is just way over the top. Alessandra tries so hard to be a villainess but it's pretty obvious early out that whether she's already committed a murder or not she just cares too damn much about the people she cares about to actually be a villainess. Her "evil queen" (to steal a phrase from the summary) is obviously a defense mechanism developed because she lives in a society that doesn't value women outside of their ability to produce heirs and look pretty. I absolutely love her. She's intelligent, witty, and funny. She knows exactly who she is as a person and while she has the huge defensive wall built she's not so insecure to not let it down around people that she cares about. 

Kallias (the Shadow King) has just as much inner turmoil. The curse that protects his life and grants him damn near-immortality also ensures he can not touch another human if he wants to live. That in itself has to be a mindfuck of epic proportions. You can live a thousand years but you can't even hug anyone? Not worth it from my perspective. His parents the King and Queen are brutally murdered by someone in his own court so now not only can he not touch anyone he can't trust anyone to boot. He fumbles repeatedly in dealing with his growing feelings for Alessandra in a way that is a very well-done real representation of how a nineteen-year-old trying to come to terms with a seriously tragic past would deal with falling in love. 

And yes while this book does touch on the important topic of women's rights to sleep with as many or as few people as they want without having to worry about society judging them for it, however, it is very superficial and honestly, at first, I thought it would annoy me but in the end, I found it to be a refreshing way to address these topics. It's not right that women are judged by a different set of standards on this topic, everyone knows that so a deep commentary really isn't needed. 

On the I suppose "side story" of the assassins other than Alessandra out to kill the king, maybe it was because I was so wrapped up in Alessandra and Kallias's story that I didn't pay enough attention, or maybe it was because I really fucking liked the guy who ends up being the assassin but I was thoroughly shocked when the who and why was revealed in terms of the assassin. I didn't see it coming at all. And I really did love this character so I was thoroughly pissed off when he ended up being an evil bastard. 

Overall, this is actually a book that I normally would have stopped reading pretty quickly. Too much romance, not enough story, superficially covering important topics; I could go on. However, I found that I thoroughly enjoyed it. But just really as a heads up if you go into this expecting anything other than an adorable, amusing, read with the depth of a kiddie pool you are going to be seriously disappointed. This is definitely a "I've had a bad day, I need to laugh, eat some ice cream, and not think too much" book. 

Dunmoor - A Gothic Letdown

 

I can't say this was the biggest letdown of my life but it was definitely a letdown. Our story surrounds Lady Helena Winters, after a less than great marriage to Drake Winters, a poet, he has now disappeared off the face of the Earth, the rumors are he's run off with one of the many women he cheated on Helena with. This being the early 19th century she is beyond embarrassed by the whole thing and has kind of become a hermit. And while Lady Winters is nursing her wounds at her father's home her father gets an invite from Lucas Lennox, he has just recently purchased Dunmoor from Lord Winters (before he disappeared) and is turning it into an orphanage, he's invited Helena's father to a ball to raise funds for his orphanage and her father in turn has invited Helena and one of her friends to attend. Helena is not exactly excited by the proposition but attends anyway. 

Dunmoor itself has a dark history; originally owned by some friars it lost its status thanks to Henry VIII and rumor has it that friars made a deal with the devil to keep anyone from ever living there, happily at least. Weird things begin to happen almost as soon as everyone arrives and it's up to Helena and a cast of characters to save the orphanage from the curse. 

Or something like that. Let me be clear there is not only a curse that has created some sort of evil ents that are able to invade the house itself, there's a cult that sacrifices people to the evil ents, there are weird women who emerge from a fountain who are also evil ents (?), there's sex trafficking of children, there's Helena's missing husband (who was abused by the cult) and who was also in an incestuous relationship with his sister, and there is an eccentric old lady who is by blood bound to the cult who is trying to bring them down. Oh and just as an addition Helena's friend disappears halfway-ish in the book after the most anti-climatic coach robbery in the history of mankind. There is so much going on in this book it's hard to enjoy it. And since there is so much going on there's really very little character or plot development. To be honest though even if the author had picked just one lane and stayed in it I don't believe I would have enjoyed this anymore. I simply didn't connect with any of the characters or the story for that matter. 

And let me just go on a small rant on the women that emerge from the fountain that may or may not be the tree monsters. In the first scene that these women appear you very much get a Lady of the Lake vibe, not even playing I kinda thought they were gonna hand Luke a sword and be like, hey cut down the evil forest with this. They are, of course, naked, and apparently, they have some sort of Double Team move (yes, I just made a reference to a Pokemon move) because they go from three women to six in like thirty seconds. They show up later on and turn into a tree monster thing and are set on fire. But they come out of the fucking water so how in the hell are they also super flammable!? I do not like these things at all in terms of "monsters". They aren't scary and they make no sense at all. 

Whew, sorry had to get that off of my chest. Moving on. 

The biggest let down though was the fact that this wasn't really scary at all. The whole creepy forest thing is less creepy and more, oh dear god will someone just set it on fire and be done with it. There are a few instances where a character mentions that a new vine has popped up and I seriously kinda wanted to just toss my Kindle after a while because really no one even tries to just chop down these damn vines. Don't know about you but if a demonic forest was trying to get into my house I'd take an ax to it for starters. In terms of the human bad guys in the cult, they are pathetically stereotypical; they stand around in circles chanting weird crap in black robes and are easily dispatched at the end of the book. And when the eccentric old lady finally explains the whole story about the cult and the tree monsters it's pointless you've already pieced it all together. 

Overall this will be my last stop in Dunmoor, I know there are two more books in this series but I just can't do it. I think it should have concluded with this one. The forest is gone, Helena and Luke are gonna get married while raising Lucy's baby, and they'll run the best damn orphanage around. Everyone's happy and the author can't add in seven more freaking topics to an already convoluted storyline. 

Professor Moriarty: The Hound of the D'Ubervilles by Kim Newman - A book "written" by bad guys for bad guys!

 

Writing as Col. Moran Newman has tunneled his inner killer and set out to write the story of Moriarty through the eyes of his right-hand man. Personally, I found this to be one of the more interesting retellings of Doyle's characters. 

Written very much in the same manner the original Sherlock tales are Col. Sebastion Moran takes us through his meeting Moriarty and becoming his personal assassin till the very end with Moriarty's fateful meeting with Sherlock in Switzerland by detailing a series of Moriarty's most puzzling and in the case of The Red Planet League most hilariously petty crimes. 

What I found to be the most interesting with this book is that at no point does Moran come across as anything other than what he actually is; a racist, homophobic, murdering bastard of a human. So often when an author tells the bad guys side of things they'll try to elicit some emotional response; if he had just had better parents, grew up in an abusive household, etc. Basically, it's not entirely the bad guy's fault they are a bad guy. Newman, however, doesn't take that route while he does give both Moriarty and Moran a kind of criminal moral code they are still just as evil at the end of the book as they were at the beginning. 

I also really enjoyed that Sherlock doesn't play any larger role in Moriarty's life than he did in Doyle's original books. Pop culture especially the latest BBC Sherlock (which is one of my favorite versions of Sherlock don't get me wrong) plays up a relationship between the two characters that didn't exist in the original books. I found it nice that this book wasn't a lot of fist-shaking with Moriarity saying "I'll get you, Sherlock!' Okay, Moriarty would never say something so plebeian but you get it. 

I should really rewatch this. 

And as with Anno Dracula Newman pulls in larger-than-life characters from across the Victorian world having their lives crash into Moran's and Moriarty's often with explosive results. 

Moral of the story: You'll find no morals in this book. Moran is a hateful murdering gun and Moriarty has his finger on the trigger. A really fun read that fits the phrase "guilty pleasure" to a T. 

Lost Worlds and Mythological Kingdoms Edited by John Joseph Adams: A Perfect Gift for the Sci-Fi fan in your life!

 

First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the people at Grim Oak Press for access to this eARC as I now know what I'm getting my husband for his birthday!

Full Disclosure: this book was not my cup of tea. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi period but especially hollow earth (I detest hollow earth like I'm offended by it) and dystopian futures are at the top of my list of niche genres I normally would never read. To be honest given the title of the book and the cover I really thought this was going to lean more towards fantasy, so while I was a tad bit disappointed for myself, as I said in the title this is the exact type of book my husband would love, so that takes care of his birthday present! And even though I'm not a fan I found myself being sucked into many of the stories contained in this book. Surprisingly one of the stories that stood out the most for me was one that features Hollow Earth. And that's what makes this collection of stories worth the read, they are exceptionally well written. I found most of the stories to be unique and more than a few of them to be downright creepy. I also have to admit that there is at least one I'd like to see a full-length book come from it. 

So while I still am never going to purchase this book for myself and I don't like dystopian futures, hollow earths, or gates to other worlds/dimensions any more than I did before I read this I still have to say that overall it was a good book. 

P.S. Please enjoy this Godzilla gif, I tried to find some cheesy '50's Hollow Earth GIF, but I found this under the title of "Godzilla Blow a Hole to Hollow Earth" and as Godzilla is my Lord and Savior I figured it was fate. 

Pennyblade by J.L. Worrad

 

4.5 stars rounded up. 

First I'd like to thank #Netgalley and the good people over at #TitanBooks for allowing me to read an ARC. 

Kyra Cal'Adra is a Commrach Highblood (a noble of an Elf-like race) who finds herself exiled to the Mainland away from her home and everyone she loves working as Pennyblade (mercenary) for humans. There is no love lost between these two races and when Kyra is doublecrossed by her human Pennyblade partners she's not really surprised. However, as the story unfolds we find that this doublecross is more than it seems and that there are greater beings at work here, possibly the Devil himself and as Kyra teams up with a Sister of the church, the very man that doublecrossed her, and a half-breed Commrach Kyra's past and her present catch up with her with devasting results. 

I'm just going to address this right off the bat: Yes, there are what I'd even term as "vulgar" sex scenes in this book and I almost stopped reading it because of these. That being said I am so glad I kept reading it, as while I can't say for certain as I'm not the author I saw these opening scenes of promiscuity to be an important part of showing Kyra's growth as a character throughout the book. And I also found it to be an important commentary period on sexuality, especially after the introduction of Benadetta. 

I honestly thought this was going to be a straightforward fantasy novel but I found the story itself to be a commentary on sex and sexuality and how society's view of these two things affects how we view ourselves, as well as one on the responsibilities that are placed on us from family and our society. Also, the Commrach culture revolves around the "perfection of their race" through breeding. It's an interesting take on eugenics and while this book doesn't delve too deep into that side of things this theme is important to the book. 

I honestly think the only thing I found to be "wrong" with this book was there were times when I thought I'd missed something and would have to go back and reread it, which is the only reason I gave the book 4.5 instead of 5 stars. And to be honest, it may not be the book's fault, I started reading this rather late in the evening the other night so it could have just been me.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy with an LGBTQ+ twist. The author doesn't go too deep into any of the aforementioned themes but I found them to be just enough to make you think while reading it. And in the end, it's really just a love story, a sad one, but a love story nonetheless. 

Magic and The Shinigami Detective by Honor Raconteur

 

I genuinely do not believe I have laughed so much at a book in a very long time. This was one of the funniest, most adorable books I've read pretty much ever.

Our story starts with our heroine Jaime Edwards being forcibly brought to a different world by an evil and apparently insane witch. The witch is also kind of an idiot as she enhances Jaime's strength, speed, stamina and to top it off puts a spell on her that basically makes her impervious to anything that would cause her harm (if you are getting Isekai vibes that's because it basically is an Isekai). As Jaime is a survivor (and an FBI agent and possibly an Afghanistan war vet, there's some reference to her being in Afghanistan at one point but it's never elaborated on) she puts all of this to good use and kills the witch, who is apparently the world's most badass witch. Jaime then flees the cave the witch had been keeping her captive in arriving at a village where she is then transported to the capital of this new world to receive medical treatment. Where she then makes some friends in very high places which allows her to circumvent most of the countries rules and become a cop, where we meet her new partner Henri a magical examiner (think CSI for magic). The new partners are immediately thrown into a high-stakes case that will put Jaime's very life in jeopardy.

At some point in time, I just decided that Henri was a Hobbit who was is also in some way related to Negima (fantasy harem love comedy anime). And I feel no shame in admitting I fell in love with him almost immediately. Maybe it's because he seems to dislike the human race as much as I do, or because he's a giant smart-ass, but I think it was mostly because he was so freaking cute! And I loved Jaime just as much, as soon as she decided that she was snapping because she was making Wizard of Oz references I decided that Jaime was the type of person I'd want to hang out with in real life. To be honest, though I do not believe there was a character in this book I didn't like.

In terms of story progression, it moved at what I found to be the perfect pace as well and I never felt like there was too much or too little information given. It wasn't overly complicated in terms of Jaime, Henri, and friends coming up with a working theory and then applying a plan of action to catch the criminals in the end. In terms of the book being a solid detective story as well as an imaginative fantasy story, it hit all marks for me.

The only thing that kinda bugged me is that at some point Jaime mentions that she misses cats as this world doesn't have them. After describing what a cat is to Henri he has a vague recollection of seeing something similar, nothing much really goes into this until the end of the book when he presents Jaime with a magical construct another wizard created that just happens to be a cat. Even down to a cat's personality. It is purple but this thing is clearly recognizable as a cat on a planet that doesn't have cats. Now maybe in a later book, we'll find out that Jaime isn't the only person on the planet that comes from Earth with a love of cats, but this bugged me a bit. Probably more so because at the beginning of the book Jaime mentions she's wearing sweats and tennis shoes (things not invented on this planet yet) which drove me nuts until the author addresses it again where Jaime admits to having some made for her. This was such a tiny thing so for the author to make sure it was addressed but to not get a good explanation for that cat was kind of annoying. And I suppose even annoying is a strong word because like I said maybe it's a bit of foreshadowing.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and if you are a fan of Isekai this book would be right up your alley. I honestly found myself comparing this more to Isekai mangas/anime than any other genre while reading it other than the whole Henri is a Hobbit thing. And I really cannot stress enough that Henri is freaking adorable.

Oh shoot and I almost forgot: Weredonkeys. I did not know I needed weredonkeys in my life, now I know I did. Do they figure largely into the story? No, but are there still Weredonkeys in the story, yes and that's all that matters.

Shadow Shinjuku by Ryu Takeshi

  

    It isn't very often that a book throws me for a complete loop, that what I had expected and what I actually got ended up being two very different things. Shadow Shinjuku did that in the most wonderful way possible. 

Sato is an orphan living on the street when one day a man walks by his cardboard box and offers him a job and if he does well the opportunity to get off the street. Sato, of course, does well and the man, who is the leader of a Yakuza family, takes him in and Sato eventually becomes an assassin. For most of his life he's just done what was asked of him, he owed Boss Yamaguchi his life it was the least he could do, right? But lately Sato's been questioning his life and when he meets Boss's daughter Ren he begins questioning what he's done even more.

This book was a wonderful meandering tale of the bonds we create by choice and the ones we have no choice but to form. Sato's questioning of bonds he has formed whether by choice or by a feeling of obligation I found to be something many of us can relate to, the manner in which that author presents these questions borders on poetic.

And yeah, it was really slow going but in the best way possible. The book really revolves around Sato's inner dialogue and through this, we get a vivid picture of Tokyo at night and those that inhabit shadows found there.

And yes there is magic. And Sato does remove some truly evil bastards heads from their body so there's a bit of violence in it. But, seriously, truly evil bastards.

The only drawback I found was some of the dialogue between Sato and other characters seemed very clipped, unnatural, and downright awkward sometimes. That being said, I didn't find these conversations enough of a hindrance to the story to give it less than five stars.

I really hope the author plans on this being a series because the end is a cliffhanger and I really want to know what happens next.