Reviews – Page 3 – Marked for Plot

Novella Readathon #30: We Burned so Bright

I have been super hit or miss with Klune. He’s definitely the biggest gay author in fantasy right now, but I don’t find myself terribly interested in pursuing his backlog. However, since We Burned so Bright is a novella, featured elderly gay protagonists, and got a reputation for being a tonal shift from his normal writing, I figured it would be worth trying out. I still don’t think Klune is going to be a must read author for me, but this settled some hesitations I had about his older work.

The Premise:
The world is ending. A black hole is slowly consuming our solar system, and everyone’s lives are measured in weeks. Don and Rodney are an elderly couple. As the world ends, they buy an RV and set to travel from Maine to Washington. Along the way, they meet all sorts of folks who are facing the end of the world in their own way. At the end of their journey is a piece of their own past that they never completely came to terms with.

Read If You: want to watch the world crumble, enjoy episodic stories, crave elderly protagonists who don’t descend into stereotypes

Avoid If You: are looking for cozy fantasy, salacious gay romance, or saving the world

Novella Readathon #29: Riot Baby

Platonic love is a topic that I’ve been craving more and more of in my reading, especially this month. Riot Baby has been languishing on my shelf for three years, and my craving for sibling bonds explored better than in my previous few reads finally got me to pick it up. I left the story conflicted. What Onyebuchi does well, he does phenomenally. However, I almost liked this story more as vignettes rather than as a cohesive novella.

The Premise:
This book follows siblings Ella and Kev throughout their childhood and early adulthood. Ella has powers akin to Jean Gray (a wide swath of extremely powerful abilities including precognition, destructive telekinesis, astral projection, etc), and Kev is a techie. The book’s main plot comes when Kev goes to jail, warping both his and Ella’s conception of what living in such a world looks like. However, the book doesn’t follow a traditional plot structure (you won’t find overarching antagonists here other than society itself), instead keeping Ella and Kev’s emotional journey as the focal point of the story.

Read If: you want a story about familial – not romantic – love, character centered stories are enjoyable to you

Avoid If: clear plot structures or well-executed speculative elements are important to you

Novella Readathon #28: Nine Goblins

Nine Goblins has been bouncing around my noggin for a while. I have a soft spot for the green little buggers, and thought it would be nice for them to finally get the spotlight. This novella went the way most of Kingfisher’s stories have gone for me: I liked the story well enough but kept wanting it to be something a bit different than it actually was. I don’t think I’ll ever regret reading one of her stories, but I’m never chasing down her newest releases either. This was a fun backlog read that I’m glad I got the excuse to finally get around to!

The Premise:
Despite its title, this book actually follows two separate storylines (which of course intersect). The first involves the titular Nine Goblins, soldiers in the war against human expansion. Interwoven into their tale is of a veterinarian elf who treats a variety of magical critters and has a particular fondness for trolls. When the goblins’ mission goes awry, they must find their way home from enemy territory.

Read If: you’re hankering for a story about goblins (duh), always wanted your teddy bear to come to life as a kid, want to see what a countercultural elf looks like

Avoid If: you don’t want your silly story to get gruesome, you refuse to read comedic fantasy inferior to Discworld

Novella Readathon #27: The River Has Roots

I adored This is How You Lose the Time War, and I’d been meaning to get around to more work by Amal El-Mohtar. After reading three other Hugo nominees, this seemed like a logical next step. It is the third fairy tale novella nominated for the Hugos this year. I didn’t dislike this book, but I also didn’t fall in love with it like so many others have. Certainly I’d put it lowest in my Hugo rankings.

The Premise:
Esther and Ysabel are sisters who grow magical willow trees on the banks of a river flowing from the fae realms. Their devotion to each other and the songs of their work keep them as close as sisters can get. However, Esther has suitors; a neighbor looking to expand his financial empire, and a fae whose customs are alluring and frustrating. The story’s focus places relatively equal weight on the sibling and romantic relationships, with Esther getting a heavier focus than Ysabel.

Read If Looking For: the power of sisterhood, conjugation-as-magic, unknowable fae, lush prose, high quality audiobook production

Avoid If Looking For: tense plotting, twists and surprises, rigorous thematic work

Novella Readathon #26: Queen O’Nine Tails

The third and final of my purchases from the now defunct Hedone Press, which unfortunately means you can only get this via Audible at the moment. I participate in this r/Fantasy’s yearly Bingo as well as the r/QueerSFF Reading Challenge, of which one of the prompts is ‘Sapphic Swashbuckler’ which this book definitely fits. However, I think this book does a poor job of marketing what it actually is, which is mostly a fantasy romance on a pirate ship, with only a smattering of the horror story I thought I was walking into. Actually, don’t read the official blurb at all. I started sketching out my initial thoughts for this review at page 100 (of 180), and the blurb spoils a major plot event that hadn’t happened yet.

The Premise:
Gloria Vane is an aspiring con woman, though mostly because it’s the path in life her uncle has set for her. On her way to swindle a new husband in America, she gets captured by pirates, immediately pisses off half the crew, and starts romantically taunting the captain Valentina Mallozzi. This book isn’t quite action, isn’t quite a romance, isn’t quite adventure, but something living in a space between all three.

Read If Looking For: sapphic pirates with a strong romance subplot, jealous crewmates, magic that isn’t always explainable

Avoid If Looking For: gore, terror, or grotesqueness, detailed sex scenes

Novella Readathon #25: Murder by Memory

The Cozy Fantasy/Sci boom seems to have two modes: romance featuring the opening of a small business, and elderly folks solving murders. Unsurprisingly, this is the latter. I liked this book quite a bit, though Mystery aficionados will leave disappointed. The portrait of the generation ship that Dorothy rides on is unrealistic, but an engaging and evocative locale for a series of mysteries to be set in. I’ll read the sequel for sure, as this series feels like a great palette cleanser between longer novels. In terms of Hugo viability? I’d slot this well below Cinder House, probably about equal with Summer War.

The Premise
Dorothy was taking a break from life when the Fairweather’s AI stuck her consciousness in the body of a bank clerk. It turns out the previous host for her new body was tangled up in some shady business, including wiping a shelf of memory archives that included Dorothy’s herself. As she gets used to a new body that she very much hopes to abandon as soon as possible, Dorothy gets pulled back into her Detective work, hoping to solve a mystery that involved several deaths, at least one of which was permanent (not something that’s supposed to happen on this ship).

Read If You: are craving something light and readable, want to follow a stereotypical Auntie solving crimes, enjoy utopian portraits of humanity’s future

Avoid If You: want realistic depictions of space travel or economic models, want the experience of a tightly written mystery

Novella Readathon #24: The Summer War

I haven’t been super in touch with new releases, and thus have not read the vast majority of the books nominated for this year’s Hugo Awards. However, Summer War seems to have enough buzz to be a realistic contender for winning the novella category. Novik’s work has always been enjoyable, and Schoolomance is a series that I’ve reread more than anything else in the past few years. The parts of Summer War that I liked were divine, but is it award worthy? Probably not, because I thought the story missed some opportunities for depth. Overall I think Cinder House was superior in almost every way.

The Premise:
Celia discovers she is the first Sorceress in generations on the same day her older brother rejects his inheritance and leaves, abandoning her as well. She curses him to be loveless, her father goes into despair at his departure, and she finally realizes her other brother is more than a useless nobody. The King now wants to marry her into the Royal family, but she’s only 12, so that likely won’t happen for a while. And behind it all the threat of brutal Summer War, the hundred year conflict with the Summerlings, looms.

Read If Looking For: fey that feel truly inhuman, fairy tale structures, wordplay and tricks, original fairy tales

Avoid If Looking For: plots that flow naturally, good fathers, the true meaning of love

The Last Contract of Isako -Corporate Samurai in Space

Fonda Lee won my heart with The Green Bone Saga, but I’ve been less thrilled with the work that she’s released since then. That’s how I felt when I got to the halfway point of The Last Contract of Isako. The book won me over in the back half though, which reinforced that Lee is going to be an author I follow closely. This book has a lot of her hallmarks from Greenbone Saga – complicated character relationships, a clear sense of culture in the world, and a small number of highly impactful fight scenes – and I eagerly await what she puts out in the future!

The Premise
Isako is a Contractor, legally connected for life with a company Director. She is one part spy, one part guard, and one part voice of reason. Unfortunately, her boss just lost a corporate war, and she consigns herself to Resigning. Before she can take the long walk into the cold, saving oxygen and water for those with life ahead of them, she is given one final job. Her joints ache, she’s disillusioned with her work, and she just wants it all to be over. For the sake of her daughter – whom will receive her retirement bonus only if she fulfills her duties till the end – Isako will do everything she can to prevent Sandbar Uchi from getting confirmed to the Board of Directors. Things get personal when she realizes something terrible has happened to his contractor & her former apprentice.

Read If Looking For: realistic-feeling dystopias, the cutthroat realities of terraforming, late-late-late stage capitalism, protagonists past their prime, atypical endings

Avoid If Looking For: characters tearing down The System, modern senses of morality, chosen ones or zero-to-hero

Novella Readathon #23: Of the Wild

I’ve been on a long kick of bad dads for this project, so I wanted something that I knew would not feature that character archetype. I actually almost read Of the Wild last year for the Parents Bingo Square. This book was satisfying, but probably not going to stick around in my head for a long time. I think it’ll be a good option for people who want a cozy fantasy that has a different vibe than most, or a different take on Romantasy than we’re used to seeing from the current boom.

The Premise:
Aeris is a fae who rescues children whose parents do not want them. However, the fruit of his tree, which allows his children to thrive and grow in arcane ways, are harder to find and less powerful every time one is picked. He is dying, and his tree dies with him. The Tall Ones are waiting to consume the children when Aeris can no longer defend his home. When a human dreams his way into Aeris’ domain, he sees a potential successor to take on his mantle once he passes on.

Read If Looking For: found family themes, love stories that don’t involve sex, cozy fantasy with some teeth

Avoid If Looking For: developed love interests, realistic portrayals of childhood trauma, bespoke prose

Novella Readathon #22: The Story of Gumluck the Wizard

As an English teacher who mostly works with 6th graders, I quite like Middle Grade Fantasy and think that they get overlooked and undervalued in the genre fiction world. However, novellas aren’t particularly common in the middle grade space, which made it hard to find a good fit if I truly wanted to have a novella themed r/fantasy bingo card, which requires a middle grade book this year. I decided to go with something a bit sillier and younger than I’d normally read in this space; Gumluck is more targeted at 8-9 year-olds than 11-12, and I think it would probably make a great bedtime storybook for kids even younger than 8.

The Premise:
Gumluck is the Very Small Wizard who Lives in a Very Big Hill. The villagers ask him for help, but never say hello or thank you. Gumluck accidentally knocks over the raven Helvetica’s nest, sparking the start of a long friendship and many silly adventures for the series to follow. In this book, Gumluck wants to become the Harvest Hero, a prize given to the most helpful villager – who conveniently has been the crown prince for the past two decades. However, he doesn’t realize the villagers look down on him, but he will press on to try and help as many people as he possibly can.

Read If Looking For: sassy ravens, technically compliant wishes, telling the truth isn’t always the right move

Avoid If You Dislike: goofiness, egregious misunderstandings, lovable loners