Quirky – Marked for Plot

Kalyna the Soothsayer – Political Fantasy with a Sense of Humor

One of my favorite things to do is read books nobody is talking about other than a few people who relentlessly hype it. Kalyna the Soothsayer was brought to my attention by u/RheingoldRiver over on the Fantasy subreddit. I’m a bit sad that it took me so long to finally pick this book up, but I really enjoyed it! It’s got a good amount of political intrigue, a delightfully unreliable narrator, and a setting that feels just weird enough to be noticed without distracting from the corruptive nature of power or xenophobic social orders. It’s not a comedy, but it’s got a relentlessly dry sense of humor. It isn’t epic fantasy, but the stakes are high. It’s not a crime novel, but our protagonist’s string of cons and lies were entertaining and filled with tension. It doesn’t quite hit my ‘all time favorites’ list, but it’s good enough that I’ve already put in an order for the sequel.

Read if Looking for: long cons, a bucket of assassination attempts, characters using nontypical weapons, Jewish-coded protagonists, chaotic bisexuals

Avoid if Looking For: kind and sympathetic nobility, fight scenes with consequences, supportive grandparents, long chapters

Comparable Reads: The Justice of Kings, A Mask of Mirrors, The Blacktongue Thief

Eight Billion Genies

Wish fulfillment (and how it can go horribly wrong) has been a mainstay in storytelling for a long, long time. I, like many of my generation, remember reading and analyzing The Monkey’s Paw in high school English class. In recent years, I haven’t found myself drawn towards stories featuring wishes, as I haven’t seen new ground being broken on a thoroughly explored idea. Eight Billion Genies changed that. Charles Soule and Ryan Browne created something really special with this one, and at 275 comic book pages, it’s a quick read.

Read if Looking for: ensemble casts, stories spanning centuries, mischievous (but not evil) genies, whimsical art

Avoid if Looking for: morality lessons, stringent wish fulfillment adherence, innovative villains, genies with any relevance to their mythological origins

The Devils

I shouldn’t have been surprised at how controversial Joe Abercrombie’s new release would be in parts of the fantasy fandom. The Devils is a departure from Abercrombie’s reputation as a character-focused writer interested in deconstructing classic fantasy tropes, and a popular author straying from their niche invariably invites criticism. At its core, this is a misfit adventure novel with a collection of villain archetypes as major players in an ensemble class. I thought the book was fun, a great audiobook to listen to at the gym, but probably not one that’s going to get recommended by me unless it’s a unique fit to someone’s requests. Had a great time with it though.

Read if Looking For: villain of the chapter, big personalities, extended fight scenes

Avoid if Looking For: a carbon copy of First Law, historical accuracy, a book impossible to call ‘safe’

The Chromatic Fantasy

I’m all about unapologetically queer books, and The Chromatic Fantasy definitely fits that brief. This book isn’t a tour-de-force on the trans experience, but it’s an extremely fun romp a book with great art that didn’t disappoint in the slightest. I need to wait a week or two to see if this has the emotional staying power to crack my top 10 of the year, but I think it’s got a pretty good shot.

Read if Looking For: tricksters and thieves, anachronism and whimsy, more color than a chameleon at a rave

Avoid if Looking For: fully coherent plots, historical accuracy (or even consistency in the intensity of historical inaccuracies), memorable villains, books without nudity

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert

When celebrities announce that they’re coming out with a book – a book in one of my favorite genres no less – I tend to get skeptical. Bob the Drag Queen is a phenomenal comedian, performer, and entertainer. That does not make her a good author necessarily. Still, at only 233 pages and narrated by Bob herself, it wasn’t difficult to throw a library hold at this book and tackle it over a weekend of deep cleaning. This book is no masterpiece, but it was solid, entertaining, and blended modern queer struggles with lessons on slavery in a way I hope others emulate. Also, how I could I not pick up a book called Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert? It’s definitely on the short list for best title of the year so far.

Read if Looking For: middle aged queer leads, music performances (in the audiobook), self-liberation, a broad range of stories from history

Avoid if Looking For: deep historical analysis, Bob’s comedic persona, romance plotlines

Stud and the Bloodblade

It’s been a while since I read a good batch of comics, but ever since I picked up Fables and Abott the urge has been growing in me. While Queer graphic novels are having a real moment right now – and I should probably do some writeups of my favorites – most of the ones I read are for my teaching job. I’m lucky enough to have two comics electives on my rotation (one middle school, and one high school) which keep me fairly busy. Stud didn’t seem like a safe bet for a school-purchase, so it took a lot longer for me to get around to this fabulous looking comic. At 144 pages, it’s tough for me to find reasons to not recommend something as quick and fun as Stud and the Bloodblade.

Read if You Like: Corny superhero vibes, the intersection of satire and seriousness, He-Man references,

Avoid if You Dislike: American Superhero story structures and art style, lack of emotional depth, plots that aren’t airtight, quirky character designs

For more examples of the art, see the bottom of this post.

Several People are Typing

Put simply, this book is a shot of adrenaline. I want to give a big shout out to u/diazeugma for recommending one of my new favorites during the r/fantasy pride month event in June. It took me a while to pull the trigger on this workplace comedy/horror book about a man stuck in the Slack chat of his workplace, a PR firm. When I did, I consumed the book in around 4 hours. At 250 pages, this reads a lot more like a novella because of how sparse the pages are. It’s not a book without flaws, but this book contains a level of joy few authors are able to capture.

Read if You Like: The Office meets Twilight Zone, comedy from the absurd, the distillation of existential dread, captivating characters, train wrecks in slow motion

Avoid if You Dislike: not getting physical descriptions of characters, mysteries that never get explained, strong romance plotlines

Fables: Volumes 1-3

After trying to hype How to Survive This Fairytale everywhere I could, I got recommended the Fables comics as another take on a dark fairy-tale mashup story. Sort of like if the TV show Once Upon a Time had been produced by HBO instead of Disney, which I think is a pretty good comparison point. This review covers the first three volumes ( Legends in Exile, Animal Farm, and Storybook Love). I’ll definitely be reading more of this, but I didn’t love it so much that I’m putting the rest of my backlog on hold to keep pursuing it.

Read if Looking For: fairy tales with blood, gore, and sex; morally dubious characters, traditional American Comic Book Art with modern storytelling sensibilities

Avoid if Looking For: thematic depth, emotional art styles, niche or non-European fairy tale references (so far)

Dad Magic

I picked up this book excited for an urban fantasy with a middle-aged gay parent as a protagonist. It’s about everything you could expect from a book called Dad Magic, and features a lot of elements I don’t normally see in fantasy (urban or not). Ultimately, I didn’t like this book terribly much, and wish that I had DNF’d it. I think there’s a lot of readers who would like it though, especially if they can get into the dad-bod jokes that exemplify the tone of this story.

Read If Looking For: platonic bromances, father/daughter bickering, corny jokes and names

Avoid if You Dislike: different names for everything, suspending disbelief for plot and romance, shallow characters

Yield Under Great Persuasion

Alexandra Rowland is one of my favorite authors, and I adore romances, so this book was an easy choice to pick up. I will say Rowland’s past romance (A Taste of Gold and Iron) was a great book, but probably my least favorite thing they’ve put out. Considering that their worst book is one that I’d happily reread, Alexandra Rowland is definitely an author who is right up my alley.

Read If Looking For: trope-filled Romances, meddling gods, melodramatic descriptions of penises

Avoid if Looking For: healthy relationship dynamics, sophistication in any sense of the word