A booklovers reviews

Summary: Paris, after the apocalypse. The world is ruled by the Houses, mafia-like organisations of fallen angels. Most people are just trying to survive, both the hard life on the streets and the power struggles between the houses. There is Philippe, a vietnamese magician, exiled to Paris with no way of going back home again. Selene, the ruler of house Silverspires, who is trying to live up to her precedessors reputation. Madeleine, an alchemist with a dark past. And then, suddenly, there is also a murderer on the loose...

Review: This is a dark book. Much darker than I usually read. But it came highly recommended, so I decided to give it a try.

The world building is very thorough, and I do rather like that the book for once doesn't take place in like, London or New York, but Paris. The city, and how much of it is destroyed, very much plays into the mood of the whole novel, and it is a good addition.

The characters are... well, this is dark fantasy. There are no outright heroes. I liked Philippe best, who flat out doesn't care about the houses. He jearns to go back to his home, knowing all the while that he most likely never will. He tries to act as a good man, but years in the hellscape that Paris has become have turned him quite pragmatic. He's a survivor, at the core, and he doesn't pretend otherwise. If he can do a kind thing, he will try, but not at the expense of his survival.

And yet, when he stumbles over a newly fallen angel, he ends up being tied to her. Isabelle and him are brought into house Silverspires at the same time, together, and I like the contrast of how they feel about it. Isabelle, the fallen angel, finds a home there, loyalty and protection, while Philippe only finds a cage. Isabelle grows loyal to the house, to Selene, but Philippe doesn't care. Almost against his will, he starts caring about Isabelle though, in a way that refreshingly doesn't read romantic or sexual in the slightest, just loyalty and a wish that she be well.

Selene herself is a very complicated woman, in a way I appreciated very much. The world of the houses is harsh, the power struggles very cut throat, and Selene is a woman I absolutely believe would be able to hold herself as the head of the house. She's pragmatic, she's hard, she can be cruel if she considers it necessary. She puts the house first, always, and will go against her morals if she thinks it will benefit the house. That doesn't mean she's a monster. She doesn't engage in cruelty just because, and she cares for those under her protection. I do wish we had seen a bit more of her relationship with her girlfriend Emanuelle, but on the other hand, no romance really had any screentime in this book, so maybe that would have ended up being weird too if it was really brought to the foreground.

Madeleine I found the weakest of the POV characters. She's the alchemist of house Silverspires. Originally she was from another house, but after a coup all the supporters of the old head were murdered and Madeleine fled and found safety in Silverspires. That past haunts her to this day, she suffers from what I would argue is PTSD and is addicted to angel essence as a result. She cares about those around her, a bit at least, but she is too wrapped up in her trauma to truly connect with anyone. Possibly this will be explored in future books, but in this one I found her least interesting.

The magic in the book felt organic and well thought out, and I do like that there is quiet a few moments where you realize that the author had an idea and really thought it through. The murder plot felt a bit tacked on though, as though the author had figured out this world and these characters and then realized she still needed a plot, which I can sympathize with. It's not bad, but it's not nearly as fascinating as just watching these characters interact with one another. And I do very much like how casually queer people are included.

All in all, it's a decent book if you're into dark fantasy, but not overwhelming.

Are there queer people? Selene and Emanuelle are in a relationship, as well as Asmodeus, the head of a rival house, and his lover Samariel. There is at least one other background mlm couple. Though it has to be added that fallen angels are said to “manifest” a certain way on earth, indicating that in heaven they might not have genders, they are considered women/men on earth and therefore I count it.

Are there people of color? Philippe is vietnamese, Emanuelle is black (though, same caveat as above, as a fallen angel she “manifests” in a body on earth, it is mentioned that she's never left Paris)

Summary: Samantha Harper, journalist and single mom, stumbles upon an old letter. Ivy Jenkins, a young woman in 1956, is pregnant and unmarried, and begs her lover to get her out of St. Margarets, a house for unmarried mothers, where terrible things are done to her. Fascinated, Samantha decides to find out all she can about Ivy's fate, never realizing how much her own family history is tied to St. Margarets...

Review: Well. There were good ideas in this one. The history of such home's for unmarried mothers is varied, and many a horror story has come to light in the last decade. As such, a book that tackles the tragedy that befell women like Ivy Jenkins ought to be fantastic.

It's not.

There are three main characters in this book, Samantha Harper, the journalist, and Kitty Cannon, a TV personality whose connection to the events isn't clear in the beginning, in the present, and Ivy Jenkins in 1956.

Ivy is a vibrant personality, her joy of life, her naivety, her love for her child and for her lover, her growing disappointment... it's springs of the page, and I'd have loved to read more about her. A book about Ivy on her own, with everything else as maybe a framing device, would have been wonderful.

Samantha on the other hand just reads... dull. There is no real sense there what she cares about. She follows up on Ivy's story solely because she wants to write an article and get promoted. It doesn't really feel like she has a great passion for truth or a great empathy for Ivy or anything. There's a small connection made with them both being unmarried mothers, but Samantha's relationship to her little daughter Emma feels shallow and underdeveloped. Even Samantha's backstory, adopted by her grandparents after her mother, an alcoholic, passed away when she was twelve, is just listed at some point and never seems to mean anything to her. It doesn't inform any of her actions or thought processes. Her relationship with her grandmother is probably supposed to be touching, but again, super underdeveloped.

Kitty Cannon is interesting in the beginning solely because the reader has no idea why we read about her. Later, it becomes clear that she is one of the children born in St. Margarets. There were a few decent ideas there with her, especially with the fact that she is one of two twins and only one was taken in by the father, the other raised in St. Margarets, but the character has the great misfortune of mostly being tagged on for the boring and superfluos thriller plot, which really only made the book worse.

All in all, this could have been a great epic about families. Ivy, Samantha, Kitty,.... the characters all have the backstories that could make for a very interesting read. Sadly, only Ivy actually is that interesting. Therefore I can't really recommend the book.

Are there queer people? None that I spotted.

Are there people of color? None that I spotted.

Summary: In a small town in rural America, in the middle of the Cold War, Molly and Gene Myers live. They're slowly lifting themselves out of the marital crisis they've fallen into since Molly had a miscarriage, battling Mollys alcoholism and Gene's almost cheating. Then, one day, everything changes: A meteor crashes into their hometown, killing and injuring dozens. The military comes to seal the place of, everyone is on edge. And in the hospital, Molly finds the most amazing thing: A small alien boy, orphaned and in need of care...

Review: The premise sounds familiar to everyone who has even a passing interest in superheroes: A space ship crash, an orphaned little alien, loving human adoptive parents. And yet, this book manages to something new. It's a story about love and parenthood, yes, but it's also a story about people, about the ups and downs of life, about a small town and the the Cold War.

Molly Myers, our main character, is a wonderful woman. She's flawed, she's clingy, she gets overprotective, she cares deeply but never really got over her miscarriage. Her battle with alcoholism is not the main part of the book, she's mostly past it by the beginning of the story, but it's something that is very much still part of her. She latches onto Cory, named that way because it was the first sound he made, quickly, in a way that everyone around her recognizes as a remnant of her trauma about her lost baby, but that's not all it is: She's simply a very, very compassionate person when children are involved, and grows to love the boy as her son, no questions asked.

Gene is a much quieter presence than Molly, supportive and worried at all times, but a loving husband and eventually father. Reading about him growing to love little Cory is an absolute delight, and his and Molly's relationship is very well developed.

Cory himself is just such a wonderful character. He's enthusiastic about everything, he's curious and he loves playing. He has powers, too, powerful telephatic ones. And he does not look human. Cory has lilac skin and face tentacles, no one could mistake him for a human.

As if this wasn't enough story for a book, the author also mines the Cold War setting to it's fullest potential. The military is omnipresent in Amber Grove after the meteor comes down, complete with a very ambitious scientist who wants to know all there is about the aliens that came with the meteor. These people cause the most conflict, as Molly and Gene, as well as a doctor and two nurses do everything in their power to protect little Cory from being found by the military.

Especially in the second half of the book, this part of the story picks up a lot of steam, leading to a tense finale, but never losing sight of what makes the story so special: It's beating heart of love and humanity, of friendship and family and loyalty.

Are there queer people: Cory mentions that his people know three genders, male, female and inter, but we never see any of those, so I don't count it. Otherwise there's two people where if you squint you can read them as a f/f couple, but Molly never even considers it, so that doesn't count either.

Are there people of color: Diana, one of Mollys neighbors and close friends, and her children are black.

Warning: This book takes place after the events of the Netflix series. If you haven't watched it yet and don't want to be spoiled, I suggest waiting for until you've seen the whole series, both for the book and this review.

Summary: In a fantastic world of monsters, elves, witchers and sorceresses, the young Ciri, granddaughter and heiress of the warrior queen Calanthe of Cintra, is hiding from the Nilfgaardians, who have taken over her home country and killed her family. Taken in by the Witcher Geralt, a man who hunts demons but can't defeat his own, and trained by him, she learns more about herself and the world.

But Geralt alone cannot help her the way she needs, so he calls old friends for help: First Triss Merigold, then Yennefer of Vengerberg, both powerful sorceresses he shares history with. Together, they try their best to prepare Ciri for the trouble that is sure to come.

Review: I picked this book up after watching The Witcher netflix series, which was a good thing, because otherwise I would have probably been quite confused by the setting. The characters are well thought out and introduced, but things like how the witchers and sorceresses gain their powers, who exactly Queen Calanthe was, who the Nilfgaardians are, what great battle Triss was thought to have died in... most of that would have been quite confusing if I hadn't seen the series.

After I read the book, I learned that there are in fact a series of short stories taking place before the novels, which is what the series adapted, and what I probably should have started reading first, but well, that's that.

The story is told at an almost calm pace, nothing much happens for a long time. The clear focus is on Ciri, which is a bit surprising after the series, where Geralt was the main character. She learns under Geralt and a few fellow witchers, but she has other abilities that they don't understand, and fearing for her safety, Geralt calls for Triss to come and help.

Triss is a wonderful character that didn't have much screentime on the show, but her pov is delightful. She also calls Geralt and his friends, all men, out on the fact that teenage girls get periods, and should be taught how to handle that, which is just an awesome scene.

After a while, Triss admits to Geralt that while she can help, Ciri really needs someone more powerful: Yennefer, who Geralt calls for help despite their complicated history. The relationship she and Ciri build is beautiful, if very confusingly told, as it's mostly explained in two huge flashbacks.

Generally, this book feels like it's a bit lacking in direction. There is such a great world, full of wars and kings and queens and monsters and magic, in a time of extreme upheaval, but most of the time it feels mostly like a backdrop. Ciri is in danger, because she is the heiress of Cintra and because she's powerful, but the story doesn't spend a lot of time on that, and more on what our main characters think of each other. What's missing is a story arc to really tie it all together.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it, I really appreciated getting closer to these characters and just seeing them interact, but it was just... when I closed the book I felt like there hadn't really been a story, like it was all just one long prologue. Which it might be, I will probably pick up the next book, too, so I will be able to report on that then.

Also, the book was written in the eighties in Poland, and it shows. There are moments where Yennefer tells Ciri it's her job to make sure no boys like her, and the like.

Are there queer people? Nope. I mean, there's like a sentence that can be read as Yennefer being bixexual if you squint, which is totally an interpretation I'm in favor of, but it's really only a sentence and yeah, I don't think it counts.

Are there people of color? None that I noticed.

Summary: The Owens women are witches, that's what everyone says, no matter what said women say themselves. Sally and Gillian Owens, the latest generation of Owens women, face life, love, death and sisterhood, together and apart, and figure out their own way.

Review: Who doesn't know the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman? A wonderful movie about witches and sisters and love. I absolutely adore this movie. So, following the tried wisdom that the book will always be better than the movie, I bought the book the movie is based on.

This was, in hindsight, a mistake. The movie is very much an embellished, much more fantastical version of the book. For one, neither of the sisters believe in magic, and they certainly don't perform it themselves. For another, both of them left their hometown a long time ago and aren't particularly close to their aunts.

It's a slow book, very much slice of life. We learn about the sisters growing up, about their trials and their triumphs, and there is rather a big spotlight on Sally's daughters, too, who I'm not sure where even named in the movie. There is little judgement for either Sally, who is widowed young and raises her daughter on her own, being sensible and responsible and having decided that she doesn't have time for love, nor for Gillian, who left home at sixteen to go travel, fall in love with new men every other week and never stay anywhere for long.

This book celebrates sisterhood, both in Sally and Gillian and in Antonia and Kylie, Sally's daughters, without shying away from the fact that sisters aren't always kind to one another. It features two love stories, but they aren't really that important, and even the magical element isn't particularly vivid. It's a book about sisters, and it's a good one.

The problem is only when you approach it as I did, through the lense of the movie, it feels lacking. What I loved so much about the movie was that they were all witches, all the Owens women, and how aware they were of it. I loved that from the first moments, when the story of ancestor Maria Owens is told, there is a very clear theme of magic being a defense for these women, a safety. I loved the element that magic is a family tradition that they all teach each other, and that both these young women love their aunts so deeply.

All these elements are missing from the book. There is magic, but only the aunts ever perform it in a way that feels anticlimatic if you watched the movie. There is a story about heritage, but it's not nearly as vivid as the movie. The climatic scene where all the women in town come together to help Sally and Gillian is missing completely. The story as a whole is much calmer, and quieter, but not... worse, or anything like that. Just different.

Are there queer people? None that I spotted.

Are there people of color? I don't think anyones race is ever mentioned, in the way that usually means they're all intended as white.