Jefferz

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Wednesday Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press. A necromancer priestess in foreign territory, a mysterious corpse that isn’t as dead as they should be, and the quest for qi energy across a tense Kingdom under authoritarian control, Deathly Fates has a lot of strong narrative elements in a story inspired by Chinese Taoist mythology. Featuring strong themes such as familial responsibilities, grief/loss, and the corruption of power, Tesia Tsai’s debut novel is a fast-paced and accessible YA fantasy story that has a good mix of adventure, action, age-appropriate spooks and mild horrors involving the dead carried by a very compelling premise. Well-plotted and generally appealing, I personally found this book to be an underwhelming and juvenile in its execution, but is a book with lots of good ideas that is well-suited for young pre-teen readers. The story follows Kang Siying, a young but skilled ganshi priestess who uses talismans to reanimate the dead to return their corpses to their loved ones or to release their spirits from this world. Given the book’s likely intended YA and younger readership, the book follows its summarized blurb and throws the…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Harper Voyager. In a tense and snow-covered world where academic studies are punishable by death, Max Francis’s Honor & Heresy follows a pair of scholars tasked with discovering the identity and motivations of a mysterious invading force threatening the city of Northgard. Accustomed to a life of persecution and suffering by political leaders that detest scholarly pursuits, Roy Dawnseve is recruited by the Governor to explore the mysterious and vast archive of the Orphic Basilica in the company of the standoffish and opposing philosophical scholar Percival Atherton. A highly atmospheric and immersive dark academia tale featuring a rivals-to-lovers M/M romance, this book is a slow burn story that’s haunting and a very promising debut novel despite a somewhat weak ending. Marketed as a story set around the concept of scholastic inquiry and a mysterious library, Honor & Heresy mostly delivers on its promise of a dark academia tale crossed with M/M romantic interests. Dark academia is a very popular genre buzzword that can relate to a variety of narrative topics and styles depending on who you ask, this book’s take on it is one of literary interest and analysis…

This review is based on a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy provided by Saga Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. An intriguing blend of fantasy and science fiction elements, Naomi Ishiguro’s The Rainshadow Orphans is a unique crossover novel full of Japanese cultural and folklore inspirations. Mixing a variety of concepts across the SFF genre umbrella, this book is an appealing and accessible read that feels like a throwback to YA fantasy novels of the mid 2000’s modernized for current tastes. The start of a planned high fantasy trilogy, though the Rainshadow Orphans is quite lengthy and occasionally drags in places, it’s an appealing start to a series full of great potential. Set in a fictional island archipelago and primarily taking place in the affluent Rainshadow City and the impoverished Keeper’s Crescent, the Rainshadow Orphans tells the story of young adult characters (plus Haru) caught amid the Royal Emperor Asayo’s revisioning of the island and the illegal gang activities of the Lucky Crows. Presented through multiple POV’s, the story is one that is part fantasy magical object and creature-based, and part futuristic technology-based with light hints of dystopian turmoil. The book covers the events of 48 hours that put the futures…

Featuring a genius title that fits the story both literally and metaphorically, Seeing Other People by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka is a wholesome and cute contemporary romance novel with trace elements of magical realism and speculative fiction elements. While clearly intended to be an opposites-attract romance story haunted by the literal ghosts of their exes, Seeing Other People is also a heartwarming story about grief and unexpected friendships that’s simple, easy to read, and tackles an emotional premise without being depressing or difficult for sensitive readers to get through. Though this book didn’t have the strongest introspective and reflective writing chops I was hoping for, it’s still a cute book that has a lot of mass appeal, perfectly suited for light-hearted romance readers looking for something with a bit more weight than their usual. “Maybe no one ever really leaves. They just…change. From souls to soil, shattered pieces to loving completion, dreams to dust to memory. They live on, the ghosts of past lives made new forever.” As a reader that loves ghost stories, I was intrigued by Seeing Other People’s premise that’s genius on paper. Presented in a dual-perspective presentation, the book follows landscape and gardening enthusiast Morgan…

Steeped in Irish folklore and narratively inspired by Ireland’s oppression by England, Dave Rudden’s Sister Wake is an expansive high fantasy epic full of thematic and cultural content. The start of a planned trilogy, Sister Wake follows three individuals of different backgrounds and affiliations during a period of rising political conflict following the reappearance of monstrous gods causing unpredictable carnage across contested land. Ambitiously written and creatively inspired, Sister Wake is a novel full of big ideas that sometimes feels like it’s struggling with fitting together its individually strong pieces and balancing its complex plot. Usually, I try to avoid directly recapping what a book is about in my reviews but for Sister Wake, this book blurb is particularly vague; even with a 1st edition copy in hand, I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. Set on the fictional island of Croí and the neighboring continental peninsula controlled by the Answering, Sister Wake is a high fantasy adventure of colonial rebellion and political conflict. Previously taken over from across the strait, the Answering has ruled over the distant and wild Croí by instituting their hierarchy of leaders, schooling, culture, and hanging all those favoring traditional Croí culture and…