Fantasy

Book Review: STILL THE SUN by Charlie N. Holmberg

| Jessica Crawford

Still the Sun by Charlie N. Holmberg is a 299 page novel published by 47North in 2024.

Genres: Fantasy (primary), science fiction, romance

Opening Line:

Something is missing.

Synopsis:

An ancient machine holds the secrets of a distant world’s past for two intimate strangers in the latest romantic fantasy adventure by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.

Pell is an engineer and digger by trade—unearthing and repairing the fascinating artifacts left behind by the mysterious Ancients who once inhabited the sunbaked planet of Tampere. She’ll do anything to help the people of her village survive and to better understand the secrets of what came before.

Heartwood and Moseus are keepers of a forbidding tower near the village of Emgarden. Inside are the remnants of complex machines the likes of which Pell has never seen. Considering her affinity for Ancient tech, the keepers know Pell is their only hope of putting the pieces of these metal puzzles together and getting them running. The tower’s other riddle is Heartwood himself. He is an enigma, distant yet protective, to whom Pell is inexplicably drawn.

Pell’s restoration of this broken behemoth soon brings disturbing visions—and the discovery that her relationship to it could finally reveal the origins of the towers’ strange keepers and the unfathomable reason the truth has been hidden from her.

My Thoughts:

Well wasn’t this just a wonderful fantasy/sci-fi story! I was a little nervous going into this because I felt a bit lukewarm about the other book I’ve read by this author, but this was quite good!

Our POV character Pell is a short, dark, strong woman with a passion for tinkering with unearthed Ancient tech. She lives in a small community with no children, in a desert, next to an impenetrable pink crystal wall and an inaccessible tower, where the sun remains in the same place in the sky at all times, although there are cycles when a tone is heard throughout the world and mists descend. As you learn about this world she lives in you will have no idea what is going on, but just sit back and relax and all will be explained in good time!

One day a tall, pale stranger (there are no strangers on this world!) shows up at Pell’s door asking for her help. He and his companion have access to the tower and it’s filled with broken machines that they desperately need functional once more. Can she figure out how to repair them? While working on the machines, Pell begins to experience visions that feel like they might be hidden memories…She has fixed these machines before.

As I said, for a good portion of this book you have no idea what’s going on, and I got pretty annoyed with Pell and her associates at times (SO MANY TIMES she says, “I need answers, and you have them!” and they refuse to tell her anything or even explain that there is a good reason why they can’t tell her, so she gets angry and has a tantrum, over and over again ad nauseum). Additionally, I lost count of the number of times a character smiling is described as “his/her lip ticked”. And all the details about the machine repairs made my eyes glaze over.

But once we finally get some answers about what this world is and what is truly going on, it was absolutely epic. I will spoiler tag the rest only because when you start this book you’re supposed to be as clueless as Pell, but it was really quite wonderful. SPOILER, BEWARE! You’ve got full lore about different types of gods fighting a war against Ruin, and a plan to actually halt a planet from turning in order to imprison the enemy and stop him/it from destroying, well, everything. And demigods diminished by tendrils of the void. Epic! END SPOILER

I found this story to be unique and interesting and pretty rad once revealed in its entirety. I will now gladly read more of this author’s work!

Note: there is a romance, but any steaminess that happens is fade to black and not explicitly on the page. And if you’re reading this book BECAUSE you like romance, just know that the falling in love bits already happened before this book starts (and were just forgotten for…reasons I cannot reveal without spoiling things). As far as violent content, there is one pretty mild physical confrontation.

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Book Review: THE LOST STORY by Meg Shaffer

| Jessica Crawford

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer is a 352 portal world fantasy novel published by Ballantine Books in 2024.

Genre: Fantasy

Opening Line:

Once upon a time in West Virginia, two boys went missing.

Well this was just a lovely story!

Two teenage boys went missing in the woods for six months. Now as adults, Rafe has no memory of their time away. Jeremy does, but he’s not telling; what Jeremy DOES do is find missing people and things with seemingly supernatural ease.

Emilie wants to hire Jeremy to find the body of her sister who was kidnapped as a teen and has been missing ever since. What she finds instead is that what really happened to her sister has everything to do with what happened to Rafe and Jeremy all those years ago, and a magical fantasy kingdom a la C. S. Lewis’s Narnia.

These main characters were delightful! They’re funny and sympathetic and complex, and there is a nice LGBTQIA+ romance you find yourself rooting for from early on, before you even know for sure how the characters feel about one another.

The details of the fantasy kingdom are really pretty secondary to the story about the fact that this magical world exists, and how it came to exist. But I honestly didn’t mind that the nitty gritty of being in a fantasy world seemed rather phoned in, because the rest of these things were so wonderful. If I hugged books, this one would definitely be deserving!

Edited to add:

I initially wrote this post before I had devised my rating systems for sexual and violent content. I think I remember that the sexual content all happens off the page, and the only violence I recall is what Emilie imagines had happened to her sister when she went missing, and perhaps a dash of fantasy battling with evil creatures with swords and bows.

I also see now that the final version of this book includes a lovely little map of the fantasy kingdom of Shanadoah, a nice touch.

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Book Review: THE BAD ONES by Melissa Albert

| Jessica Crawford

Wow, I couldn’t get enough of this supernatural YA mystery!

Four people go missing during the course of a single night, the only apparent connection among them being that each is either a student or a teacher at Palmetto High School. Nora’s best friend is one of the vanished. But Becca has left clues for Nora, as if she knew she was about to be gone. The clues all lead back to the goddess game, a local childhood tradition based on urban legend. But what if it’s actually more than a game? And what if the thing called goddess is actually something much darker?

I found Nora to be a refreshing main POV character, and in general I appreciate how the author writes teens. I liked the fact that Nora’s friendship with Becca was complicated. I did balk a bit at the style of prose (for example, I recall a line that went something like: “The wind tasted spiky and wild.”) But that didn’t stop me from having great fun reading the story! It’s deliciously spooky, intriguing, mysterious, and emotional, with just a splash of romance. Wonderful!

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Book Review: SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by John Wiswell

| Jessica Crawford

Holy moly! This is one unique story!

This is a sapphic romance where the monster falls in love with a woman in a family of monster hunters, told from the POV of the monster. It is GRISLY, full of body horror, but also rather charming and sweet. It tackles so much, including issues in regards to healthy relationships. It touches on autonomy, consent, and working through trauma; love, sexuality (and asexuality), and diverse feelings toward begetting and raising offspring. These things are masterfully woven into a story that is complete with a(n) (anti)hero, truly awful villains, romance, harrowing fights, and many things besides. This book may churn your stomach at times, but it is also guaranteed to warm the cockles of any fantasy-reader’s heart and/or egg sac (that’s a little monster humor there, you’ll have to read the book to be in on the joke.)

I can honestly say I’ve never read anything else quite like this before, and am truly impressed!

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Book Review: WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT (SWORN SOLDIER #2) by T. Kingfisher

| Jessica Crawford

“Blessed Virgin,” I whispered, even though I couldn’t even hear myself. “Why must you keep sending me innocent monsters?”

Another atmospheric, creepy, entertaining and delightful novella in the Sworn Soldier universe.

Sworn soldier Alex Easton has invited mycologist Eugenia Potter to stay at their father’s old hunting lodge in Gallacia to study the local mushrooms. They arrive to find the lodge in disarray, as it turns out the caretaker has recently died, although folk from the local village are hesitant to say what killed him – natural causes, or supernatural ones? What is superstition and folklore, and what is a very real threat? The story also touches on subjects such as war and PTSD.

Soldier’s heart doesn’t know the difference between terrible things. Fungus or cannon fire, it’s all just the war.

As always, Kingfisher’s writing made me laugh out loud at times, while also being perfectly spooky and evocative.

Miss Potter gave him a much warmer smile over her shoulder than I’d ever seen her give to anything that didn’t have spores.

This is Gothic writing at its finest, with a healthy sprinkling of Eastern European folktales, humor, and admirable messages. You love to see it!

“May we always have the choice to err on the side of mercy,” I said, lifting my wine.

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Book Review: 2024 HIGH CALIBER AWARDS

| Jessica Crawford

This is a collection of the winning entries to a science fiction/fantasy/military novella contest, published by Cannon Publishing (J.F. Holmes), with writing from Kevin Harris, Sam Rob, Brian Gifford, SC Visel, K.M. Sykes, Tim Hanlon, Doug Goodall, J.P. Staszak, and John M. Campbell.

One of the authors is a coworker of mine, and an all around great person, and so I purchased this anthology to read his work, but the quality of writing across the board was great!

Each story here was either a 3 or 4 star read for me. If some of them were turned into longer works I might rate them even higher – the shorter form just doesn’t always work for me personally, and although these meet the word count for novellas, they just felt a bit more like short stories to me, giving readers a snapshot of life in the imagined worlds rather than a complete and fully fleshed-out story arc. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that format, I just find it’s harder to wow me with it.

There were two entries that I wound up skipping, but again it was a personal taste thing, not a quality thing. One had a very interesting premise but the entire story was the details of a single battle, and as a reader (and even while watching movies), I find nothing more boring than that. But obviously that’s me, and if you found yourself picking up this anthology because of the “military” bit in the description, then clearly there is a good chance you will feel differently!

But overall I really enjoyed these stories of monks, trolls, alien invasions, and dark magic. There is a lot of talent on display here, and these authors are worth keeping an eye on for sure. Bravo, everyone!

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Book Review: THE TAINTED CUP by Robert Jackson Bennett

| Jessica Crawford
Shadow of the Leviathan #1

This engaging and original story is the first in a new fantasy series by the author of The Founders trilogy.

Buckle in and prepare yourself for some hefty worldbuilding, but part of what was admirable about this book was the fresh and unique setting. The Empire of Khanum is arranged like a succession of spoked wheels, with the the wealthiest citizens living in the center, the farthest from the outer ring’s sea walls. This is because every wet season, leviathans surface from the deep and try to breach the walls, destroying everything in their path. Branches of the military are dedicated to shoring up and defending the wall from the monstrous titans.

Some people who serve the empire are given grafts or suffusions, altering their abilities in specific ways. Our main character, Din, is an engraver; he has been cerebrally altered to have a perfect eidetic memory of everything he sees and hears. He carries little vials of different scents with him to use as cues to associate with particular memories. With this ability, he acts as the eyes and ears of the exceedingly eccentric, and brilliant, Ana, the investigator to whom he is newly apprenticed apprenticed.

“He’s new,” said Ana, “and big, and I think he lost his sense of humor in some tragic accident. But he helped me solve the Blas issue quick enough.” Then, simply, “He is good.”

The bulk of this novel focuses on a murder investigation Ana and Din undertake, one that winds up with far-reaching political implications. But there’s also a lot about the uncertainties of living in a world that is routinely under threat, not only by the titans of the sea, but also contagion, worms, and a host of other worries. It addresses the nature of civilization, and the question of whether people exist to serve their Empire, or vice versa.

One of the highlights of this book is the relationship and banter between Ana and Din (and a few other characters introduced during their investigative proceedings), which are charming and often downright hilarious. Ana is irreverent, Din is sincere.

“Just wish to comment, ma’am,” I said, “that, ah, I’ve no idea at all what’s going on anymore.”

And as if all of that wasn’t enough to secure a place for this book in my esteem, is also included great representation: of disability and neurodiversity, plus the minor romance included was queer.

“…if I hadn’t been the person that I was, then the alterations would not have been a success. It was my choice. I changed and became, I self-assembled. Just as you have done.”

I highly recommend this refreshing and entertaining tale of a murder mystery that unfolds in a new and interesting fantasy world, and I can’t wait to read about what Ana and Din get mixed up in next.

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Book Review: EMILY WILDE’S MAP OF THE OTHERLANDS by Heather Fawcett

| Jessica Crawford

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett is a sequel that manages to be even more charming than its predecessor!

Emily, Wendell, and Shadow are back, and this time they’re joined by Emily’s niece, as well as the Cambridge dryadology department head. Professor Wilde was granted tenure after publishing her encyclopedia, and luckily for us readers, she continues the practice of keeping a journal as it helps to organize her thoughts. The story begins on campus, and so there’s a hint of “magical school” flavor at first. Then it’s off to Austria for another adventure!

The banter is just as hilarious, the romance continues to develop, and the faeries are just as enchanting and horrifying as ever. Poe is just as endearing (yes, everyone’s favorite brownie makes an appearance!) The element of two explorers trapped in Faerie, lost and confused, occasionally popping in and out of the mortal world, and continually just missing each other like ships in the night as they search for one another was wonderfully whimsical.

This book has more of a traditional structure than the first, where things started simply with a scholar doing research. Going into the sequel, we already know that there is a goal of finding a back door into Wendell’s Faerie kingdom. Pretty much straight away here, our protagonists learn that his stepmother has ordered his assassination, moving the timeline forward in an urgent way. And I was hooked!

Emily is determined that it is her turn to save Wendell, and she has learned from her past mistakes—although of course she makes some new ones, too. And with the way this book ends, it seems she will definitely have a chance to learn from those as well! Which is well and good because the parts of the resolution here felt a bit underwhelming, but did a fine job setting up the next part of the story.

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and give an honest review of this eARC.

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Book Review: STARLING HOUSE by Alix E. Harrow

| Jessica Crawford

Opal has been dreaming about Starling House for years. It turns out the house has been dreaming about her, too.

This is a modern dark fairytale with a protagonist who has no qualms about lying and stealing her way through life if it means providing a better one for her brother. After meeting the odd inhabitant of the creepy house in the neighborhood, she finds herself in a war to protect the residents of a Kentucky town that didn’t always protect her.

This tale is Gothic and mysterious. It features flawed characters, a sentient house, a hellmouth in a place called Eden, and it addresses whose narrative gets remembered and passed on in society. It reminded me a bit of Ragnar Tornquist’s Dreamfall game, in that (SPOILERS AHEAD) the dreams of a little girl in a dreamland are doing very real damage in the real world–except in the case of Nora Lee in Starling House, the harm is very intentional! (END SPOILERS)

There is a romance aspect to this story, and I got a kick out of how, unlike in most novels, the readers keeps being told how generally unattractive these two lovers are. (Of note, Opal is 26 years old, although the book and everyone in it seem to treat her much younger.) There are some footnotes in this book, which I usually find I really like in novels, but here it seemed kind of half-assed; the point winds up being because the entire account is supposed to be Opal making sure the “real” story gets told, but the book never fully committed to this device.

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