Fantasy/Urban Fantasy

Review of Laughter at the Academy by Seanan McGuire

November 23, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’ve read (and loved) Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series but had never read any of her short stories before this. What a treat they were! I’m typically not a fan of short stories as they tend to leave me feeling unsatisfied at the end, and oftentimes, I find that the majority of the stories in an anthology don’t resonate with me. That was so not the case here, and I loved pretty much every one of the twenty-two stories, though admittedly, I enjoyed some more than others.

I was genuinely impressed by McGuire’s ability as a short story writer and how she managed to pull me into every story in this collection. What made this collection especially fun for me was the mixture of genres. I went in, initially expecting them all to be sci-fi but was surprised (in a good way) to discover that there were also fantasy, horror, steampunk, and even mythology stories. It’s difficult for me to choose my favorite stories because I pretty much loved every one of them, which never happens when I read an anthology.

Some of the stories I especially enjoyed included:

An LGBT ghost story in which a high school girl is having a difficult time letting go of her dead girlfriend. – Childhood toys that start a war – a real one.
An intergalactic schoolteacher who protects the planet.
A murderous plant woman who is not what she appears to be
A woman who live tweets from a haunted house. This one definitely fell into the horror category.
A robot with a mission who poses as a high school student and tries to blend in. An interesting take on the theme of bullying.
An endless, eternal game of football and Halloween– an interesting and modern take on the Norse Valkyries Valhalla.
A creepy urban fantasy reimagining of the Wizard of Oz.
A dark spin on the Peter Pan tale.
A collection of office memos – with an interesting and creepy catch.
A portal story where a character has to decide whether to go or stay.
A microbiologist who intentionally releases a deadly virus into the world.
Sea creatures with not-so-good intentions – another horror story.
An emotional story about a little girl and the world’s last tuna fish.
There was also “From A to Z in the Book of Changes,” which is literally a collection of twenty-six one-word prompts for each letter in the alphabet, that Seanan McGuire then turned into a series of brief short stories. It’s something I’ve never seen done before and was a truly unique experience to read.

All in all, I found these stories engrossing, addicting, and spooky. I also loved that the author added in a brief introduction at the beginning of each story, providing background and her reasons/inspiration for writing the story. For me, Laughter at the Academy is an amazing collection of eclectic stories, some of them eerie and macabre, others heart-wrenching but all well worthy of a read. I appreciated the author’s lush, luminous prose, and her extraordinary storytelling, and I definitely plan on checking out more of this talented author’s short stories in the future.

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Review of Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

August 14, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This was last month’s Book of the Month Club selection whose synopsis grabbed my attention right from the get-go. I just couldn’t resist a book was the words “Mayan Death God” and “1920’s” in the description and turned out to be a delightful Mayan folklore story chock full of mythology.

Gods of Jade and Shadow is a standalone fantasy story that takes place during the Jazz Age in the Roaring ’20s and follows a young woman named Casiopea Tun who lives in Yucatán, Mexico. She and her mother are considered the poor relations and are pretty much servants, spending their days slaving away for their wealthy and tyrannical grandfather.

So one day, she discovers that her grandfather has left the key for the strange wooden trunk in his room, a trunk that has always remained locked. Unable to resist her curiosity, Casiopea opens the chest and inadvertently releases the Mayan god of Death, Hun-Kamé, who was apparently imprisoned in the trunk.

We learn that Hun-Kamé was the king of his realm and his twin brother, Vucub-Kamé, trapped him in the trunk and stole the kingdom, which is their Underworld called Xibalba, which is basically the land of Death. So Hun-Kamé, the rightful king and Supreme Lord of Xilbalba, requests Casiopea’s help in getting back his throne. Well, I shouldn’t say request — as it turns out, she doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter (for reasons I won’t go into).

Now the kicker is, is that if she fails, she dies. But if she succeeds, her deepest desire can come true. What follows is a harrowing journey as Casiopea, along with the handsome yet commanding death-god, embark on a treacherous adventure into Mexico City and subsequently into the dark Underworld, and along the way, encounter all manner of gods, demons and creatures.

I love a book where there’s an adventurous quest, and this one didn’t disappoint. From what I understand, this story is a fairytale-inspired by Mexican folklore. Now don’t worry if your knowledge of Mayan history and culture is lacking, as the author lays it all out in an easy-to-understand and compelling manner — there’s even a handy glossary in the back of the book. All the details you need are worked seamlessly into the action.

The prose in the story is luxurious, lyrical, and incredibly imaginative with vivid descriptions, a truly magical plot and a vast arrayP of exciting and complex characters. I loved the otherworldly, fairytale aspect to this tale and found it utterly enchanting. The blending of the old Mayan myths, legends, and gods with the new lifestyle of the 1920s really worked well for me.

I also thought that the world-building was terrific! It was so much fun to immerse myself into it and watch as the story slowly expanded it. The vibrant world that the author created here in this story was magical, captivating, twisty, and compelling yet also dark and dangerous. I felt that the detail that went into the storytelling here really brought it to life — at least it did for me.

I loved Casiopea’s character and felt she’s a phenomenal heroine. She’s feisty, headstrong, brave, determined, defiant, proud and refuses to take crap from anyone — even from Death himself — and I found myself falling in love with her more and more as the story progressed.

All in all, I loved this inventive and addictive story. It was elegantly written and well-constructed, with an evocative and gripping plot that I found fascinating. I thought that the author seamlessly blended the real and the mythic in a way that was a joy to read.

It also had a satisfying character arc for both of our protagonists, which I appreciated as both of them really changed and grew throughout the story. There was also an exceptional chemistry between the two main characters, which only increased as the story progressed.

So yeah, I loved the book, and I hope to read more of this author’s work.

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Review of Grace Logan and the Goblin Bones by Pam Binder

August 11, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

The story follows fifteen-year-old Grace Logan, a free-spirited young woman who yearns for adventure and longs to be a pirate like her father. But instead, all she has to look forward to is an arranged marriage.

But before her wedding can take place, the unthinkable happens: an unknown enemy has captured her father. Once an attempt is made on her life and a sleeping/death curse is placed on her home, Grace’s eyes are opened for the first time, and she discovers that she is surrounded by magic and magical beings.

Determined, she makes the decision to go on a quest to rescue her father from the Goblin underworld. Additionally, she discovers that a student, John Dee (yes, THAT John Dee) has stolen a magical book from her family and unless she retrieves it, the world will be thrown in utter chaos.

So Grace, along with two Sidhe friends, embark on a harrowing adventure into the world of Goblin, an adventure fraught with danger. Grace faces all manner of instances and comes face-to-face with a variety of monsters/creatures from Irish myth and along the way, learns more about herself, her family and friend than she ever thought possible.

This story is actually chock-full of Irish history, myth, and mythology, including faeries and folktales, and it was a delight to read about it. I will say, however, that for someone who isn’t familiar with Irish mythology (and the Book of Invasions), some of the information may seem a tad overwhelming. I have studied Irish mythology a bit, so I quite enjoyed the manner in which the author wove in these myths and legends, which added extra depth to the storytelling.

I loved Grace Logan and the Goblin Bones and found it to be an atmospheric novel where magic can be found in the mundane. This is a pulse-quickening story, and I loved how the author took these old myths and legends and turned them into something new and fresh. It was an exciting novel with fascinating characters and a fast-moving storyline which kept me on the edge of my seat. Prepare to be dazzled.

Many thanks to Pam Binder and The Wild Rose Press for providing me with an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

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Review of The Binding by Bridget Collins

February 5, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

First thing I want to point out is how beautiful the book is, not just the art on the dust jacket but the book itself with gorgeous gold embossing. It’s gorgeous!

Introducing Emmett

The Binding follows a young man named Emmett Farmer who is recovering from a strange illness, of which nobody knows the cause. Though he’s trying to be helpful in his father’s fields, his strength, stamina, and usefulness are only a shadow of what they once were, as he continues to suffer bouts of dizziness, nausea, and general weakness.

Summoned by a Witch

One day a strange letter arrives from a well-known Bookbinder named Seredith, requesting that Emmett become her apprentice. Now in this world, a bookbinder is not merely someone who stitches together pages of a book. Rather, Bookbinders are feared, hated and treated with suspicion. Some people call them witches because what they do, is remove portions of a person’s memory and then bind those memories in elegant leather-bound books.

The Art of Bookbinding

People go to Bookbinders to remove those memories that cause them pain, cause them grief or as a manner to hide a dark secret. Do you want to forget something? Go to a Bookbinder. Do you have secrets, an embarrassing mistake or a dark past that you want to be removed from your memory? A Bookbinder can fix you right up. Is the pain or grief from the loss of a loved one so great that you simply cannot live with it? A Bookbinder can remove it all for you. And once you’ve been bound, you’ll completely forget that you’ve been bound.

The books created from these memories have the power to change lives and destroy lives, should they ever fall into the wrong hands. And what happens if those books are ever destroyed? Why, all of the memories in the book come immediately rushing right back to their originator, which could have some quite disturbing consequences.

Emmett’s Destiny

As Emmett learns from Seredith, Bookbinders aren’t made, they’re born — bookbinding is part of who you are — it’s in your blood. For as long as Emmett can remember, he’s been strangely drawn to books even though his father has strictly forbidden them. His new mentor tells him that Bookbinding is a sacred vocation and informs him that the reason he has felt this affinity for books is that he is “binder-born,” which was also the cause of his illness. But now that Emmett is working with books and fulfilling his destiny, his illness abates, and he finds a kind of peace in his workshop.

Shady Characters

Now, this is one of those novels that you can’t say too much about without giving anything away. I went into this book completely blind, having not even an inkling of the plot and I’m so glad I did because the surprises are worth it. Let me just say that not all binders are of the high moral caliber as Seredith, and there are definitely some bad apples. Some of them are in it just for the money, and some even stoop so low as to illicitly sell these books of memories on the market to make a profit.

Eventually, Emmett unwillingly becomes involved with some of these less scrupulous binders and ends up having to make some really tough decisions. It’s also worth mentioning that the art of Bookbinding is abused by some of the more dodgy characters in the book, leading to some powerful and heart-wrenching scenes. For instance, I found it genuinely chilling that memories from a rape victim can be wiped clean, allowing the perpetrator to walk away unpunished. Emmett soon finds himself plunged into a world of wealth, abuse, cruelty, depravity and deception.

A Story in Three Parts

The book is told in three parts. The first part follows Emmett’s story in the present as he is summoned by the Bookbinder and begins his apprenticeship. It’s in this part where we learn the truth about what Bookbinding actually is. I found this section absolutely riveting as we’re introduced to the somewhat unsettling and macabre world of Bookbinding.

Part Two of the story brings us to the past but prior to Emmett’s illness, before Emmett knew who or what he was. Here, we’re integrated into Emmett’s daily life on the farm and see the events that led to Emmett’s illness and his subsequent summons by the elderly Bookbinder. Initially, I found this abrupt change in direction from the first part a bit jarring, mainly because I didn’t understand the purpose to this section and how it related to the story we’ve been told thus far. But then, all the pieces fell into place leading to a delightful “ah-ha!” moment.

In Part Three, we return to present day, but interestingly, we are no longer experiencing the story through Emmett’s eyes but instead, through the eyes of someone else and I found this section just as beautiful and compelling and as the previous ones.

Verdict

The Binding is a beautiful, atmospheric and haunting story that I found to be a remarkable read. I adored the intriguing and frightening premise of this fantasy world where portions of a person’s memories can be removed and then be preserved for safekeeping in a book. I thought this concept was absolutely mind-blowing — it was so imaginative, original and clever. This was one of those books that stuck its hooks into me almost immediately, and I didn’t want to let go at the story’s finish. A truly captivating story that I didn’t want to end.

Though the world of the Binders is fascinating, the heart of this story lies in the beautifully woven yet forbidden romance of two desperate souls who find themselves caught up in the dark and cruel machinations of others around them. This story wrecked me in the best and most unexpected ways. It hit me right in the heart, and I’m still thinking about it many days later so in this way, it’s an incredibly profound and shattering story.

This book certainly raises some interesting questions and made me wonder how many of us would pay a visit to a Binder to get painful or embarrassing memories permanently removed, thus creating new stories for ourselves in the process? Quite an interesting concept, for sure.

All in all, The Binding is a unique, haunting and beautifully written multi-layered novel that’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before and I completely fell in love with this story. The author created such a vivid and realistic world here that at times, I forget I was reading fantasy. All in all, a solid 5-star read for me and I’m already thinking about giving this one a re-read.

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Review of The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

January 24, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Thank You Netgalley for providing me a free review copy in exchange for an honest review

This is the third and final volume in The Winternight Trilogy and boy what a journey it’s been. It’s difficult to write this review as I’m sad that this series has ended — but I’m so glad I went along for the ride.

Now it is difficult to review the final book in a series while completely avoiding spoilers for the prior books. So if you haven’t read The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, consider yourself warned, though I do try to make all my reviews as spoiler-free as possible. But still, this is not a book that you can read as a standalone novel.

The Story

The Winter of the Witch picks up right where the events of The Girl in the Tower left off: in the aftermath of a deadly fire that torched much of Moscow, and immediately, we hit the ground running. Vasya’s enemy, Father Konstantin Nikonvich, a priest who has lost his faith, has vowed vengeance on the girl and is able to incite the townspeople into a murderous rage, convincing them that she was responsible for the fire and that she’s a witch. Well, he wasn’t lying about the fire part — she actually was kind of responsible for that. So a frenzied mob storms Vasya’s courtyard, captures her, puts her in a cage and attempts to burn her to death as a witch. Exhausted and wracked with grief after having lost a dear friend, she manages to escape and is on the run, fleeing for her life.

Having left Moscow, she undertakes a perilous journey for her survival and the survival of her people, traveling into a strange and somewhat haunting otherworldly realm where nothing or nobody is as they seem. Along the way, she meets all manner of mythical creatures: a feisty mushroom king, a fierce old witch woman who holds a surprising secret, an unfriendly firebird, an angry river spirit, powerful gods/demons such as Lady Midnight whom Vasya isn’t quite sure are friends or foes and all manner of domovoi.

But what’s most interesting is that along the way, she uncovers long-buried secrets about her family history, her bloodline and her legacy helping her to finally understand who she really is. It also becomes evident to the reader that she is indeed a girl who is straddling two realms, both literally and figuratively, with ultimately the fate of both resting in her hands.

But no matter what obstacles are placed in front of her, Vasya finds a way to overcome them, intent on her main goals: to search out the only creature who can help her to save her cousin’s kingdom from the rapidly approaching Tartar armies and assist her in restoring balance after old and deadly enemy resurfaces and is intent on destroying Moscow. She also vows to help the chyerti (the blanket term for guardian spirits and creatures of Russian folklore) coexist with humans. But to accomplish her goals, she first has to make a drastic inescapable decision, a choice she’s not sure is the correct one.

This book is considerably darker than the other two. There’s a lot more danger, a lot more warring going on and beloved characters perish resulting in some heartbreaking scenes. But if it’s any consolation, some old friends return, also resulting in some emotionally intense scenes.

It was so much fun seeing Vasilisa Petrovna in this third book. She has grown incredibly since the first novel, both personally and magically. She is fierce, committed, and unapologetic — indeed a force to be reckoned with and can definitely hold her own against those who wish her harm.

Vasya comes into her own in this story as well as finally discovers the power that resides within her. But as is her custom, she makes more than her share of mistakes along the way, rendering her all the more human, all the more likable and all the more relatable. I love the fact that our heroine, as well as the secondary characters, are not black or white but all have their admirable qualities (even the villains…well, some of them) along with their flaws and faults.

It was heart-wrenching at times to watch Vasya as she desperately struggled to balance the real with the magical and the light with the dark, while figuring out how to convince her leaders, both human and folk spirits, that Christianity and chyerti can coexist.

Speaking of the secondary characters, they were amazingly well drawn and vividly rendered. Arden does an admirable job of getting into the heads and hearts of all of her characters, both the main ones and her secondary ones. More than that, she brings them all to life, allowing them to thrive and grow in their complexity.

The many magical creatures from folklore that played essential roles in all three books are utterly fascinating, sometimes dangerous, and always wondrous, and the author really brought them to life in this series. The character arcs take some very interesting twists and turns in the novel, especially those of the twins, Morozko the Frost Demon and Medved, the Chaos Demon in which we learn a lot more about them, their past and their motivation.

I found this book to be epic storytelling.

Final Verdict

The Winter of the Witch was utterly bewitching and immersive with its larger than life dynamic characters, action-packed plot, and lush narrative. Once again, the author has expertly weaved together historical and fantastical elements to create a truly atmospheric story filled with magic, wonder, and hope. It’s a masterpiece of a book — a tale of a clever girl who manages to outwit men and devils alike. I also loved the powerful message about coexisting that Arden teaches in this book, a message that many may find especially resonant in today’s times.

This book had so many themes, messages and other compelling tidbits running throughout: religious zealotry, grief, madness, battle, death, chaos, an evil priest, a brave heroine, mythical creatures, good vs evil, human vs non-human, the bond of family and blood, the never-ending battle between the old ways and the new, madness, a touch of romance and at the end of the day, redemption. There’s definitely a lot going on here.

I’m often somewhat leery of reading the final book in a trilogy because oftentimes, I end up disappointed. Not this time. In the stunning conclusion, everything is resolved, all loose ends are tied up, including Vasya’s heritage, her place in her country, her place in the world, her relationship with Morozko, the conflict between Christianity and the chyerti, Morozko’s relationship with his brother and Vasya’s place in her family. I sobbed at the end — but in a good way.

After three amazing, books, I’m finding it a tad difficult to say goodbye to those characters that I’ve grown to love over hundreds of pages. The Winternight Trilogy is now one of my most beloved series, one that I no doubt will reread in the future. It certainly makes me want to delve deeper into and learn as much as possible about Russian Folklore and the Russian pantheon. It has also made me add Katherine Arden to my insta-buy author list.

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Review of Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

January 19, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“My life to yours. My Breath becomes yours.”

The Story

Warbreaker is a story that follows two sisters who are princesses, a handful of mercenaries, a powerful, deadly yet mysterious warrior, a flippant atheist god who seems to take nothing seriously, a group of other gods and goddesses all of whom have returned from the dead and finally, the God King of this world — the ultimate ruler.

The two kingdoms in this story are Idris, from where the two princesses come and Halladren, ruled by the silent yet powerful and fearsome God King. These two cities have been barely tolerating each other for three centuries.

Now the King of Idris needs to make good on his daughter’s marriage contract; you see, one of his daughters has been promised to the God King with the goal being to produce an heir to the God King while maintaining the peace treaty between the two nations. But things turn out a little differently than expected when one daughter is on route to Halladren to marry the God King and the other has undertaken a personal rescue mission to save her sister from the horrid ruler.

The rest of the story takes place in Halladren, where we’re introduced to living gods called The Returned because they have returned from the dead. Every once in a while, someone comes back from the dead and when they do, they are then worshipped as Gods.

We’re also introduced to the system of magic called Breaths revolving around breath and colors. A breath is a chromatic essence of a person – like part of the soul — and each person is born with one breath, which can be given by one person and taken by another. The person who gives away his or her breath then becomes a “drab,” in which the world appears gray and pretty much colorless. The person receiving the breath is bestowed with heightened senses in which they’re able to discern subtle distinctions of color and sound. They are also infused with magic, making them capable of animating objects such as clothing, rope, dead squirrels and even little men made of straw and commanding them to do your bidding. This system is called Awakening, and a person needs a lot of Breath to perform an Awakening.

There’s also the mysterious Vasher to whom we’re introduced immediately in the first chapter, and he repeatedly appears throughout the book. The thing is, is that we have no idea who he is or what he’s up to. Is he trying to assassinate someone? Start a war? The more he appears, the more is revealed.

As political chaos, conspiracies, backstabbing, and unrest in the streets begins brewing, we learn that someone is indeed trying to start a war and it’s up to only a few people to prevent it: a god who doesn’t believe in his own divinity, a princess who overnight become unimportant, another princess who overnight become all-important, an immortal wielding a sentient dagger whose primary goal is to kill evil, and the God King himself.

What I Liked

Given that magic system in this story revolves around colors, it’s no surprise that Warbreaker is a book vivid and vibrant with colors. I found it easy to picture the scenes in my head, and the lush descriptions really helped to give the novel a strong sense of place.

Additionally, the plotting and world-building were outstanding. In this story, Sanderson gives us a rich world filled with riveting history and mythology, fascinating politics, an intriguing mystery and numerous twists resulting in a truly immersive read. I especially enjoyed the political system in which the common people actually interacted one-on-one with the gods.

The gods themselves were also captivating, and I found it interesting how they remembered nothing from their past lives after they were “Returned” so in essence, they had to reinvent themselves when they began their second life. I loved the whole concept of “The Returned” and found it fresh and original. I also thought that the mythology surrounding the Court of Gods and the God King was utterly fascinating and would have loved to have learned more about them.

But the real treasures of this story were the rich, vivid and life-like characters:

We have two princesses, Vivenna and Siri, who couldn’t be more different personality-wise, and both of whom grew enormously throughout the arc of the story
A witty, sarcastic and irreverent god named Lightsong the Bold (my personal favorite character) — a multi-layered hero who doesn’t believe in his own divinity and whose main goal is to be as lazy and useless as possible
Denth and Tonk Fah, two tremendously humorous mercenaries who popped into Vivenna’s life
Vasher, the deadly and enigmatic warrior
Nightblood, Vasher’s sentient talking sword who has one role: to destroy evil, though given that it’s is only a sword, its concept of evil is a tad cloudy, so it simply sets out to destroy everything
Susebron the holy and majestic God King who we know nothing about until his personality slowly begins to unfold
And the numerous other gods, goddesses and high priests, all of whom were entertaining with distinct, well-developed personalities.

The character development in the book was terrific, especially with Siri, Vivenna, and Lightsong. It was fun seeing their growth as the tale progressed.

I thought there was a lot more humor in this book than in the other Sanderson novels I’ve read and caught myself laughing out loud several times during the story. Lightsong’s witty and wry humor was particularly fun, especially during his exchanges with the other Returned. I also enjoyed the endless banter between the two male mercenaries and even the exchanges between Vasher and his deadly talking sword were often amusing.

As is the case with other Brandon Sanderson novels, the magic system in Warbreaker, which uses a combination of breath and color to bring objects to life, was phenomenal. There were some fascinating scenes involving animated objects and zombie-like characters. The author certainly has a knack for creating creative magic systems that are intricate, clever, unique yet easy for the reader to comprehend.

Additionally, I liked the idea that magic is costly and not easy to master. I also liked how everyone has the potential to do magic in this world and not just a select few — it all depends on how many breaths you can gather up. The more breaths a person acquires, the longer they live and the more magic they can do. It’s also worth noting that a breath cannot be taken forcefully — it must be given freely.

What I Didn’t Like

Susbron, the God King, remained pretty much a mystery through to the end of the story. We learned a little bit about him but not nearly enough to be satisfying. I wish the author would have delved a little more deeply into his story and history. Likewise, I wish he had gone a little more into the history of the Manywar, the Returned and the Court of Gods.

The book also took a while to get going. My experience with Brandon Sanderson novels has shown me that they’re often slow-starting as the author spends a good portion of the book on world-building as the characters and story begin to take shape. So in this way, the middle dragged a bit. However, I felt the slow-buildup was totally worth it as the story took off like a bullet during the last 20% or so of the book.

Final Verdict

I really didn’t have any niggles with this and ended up loving it. Like the other Sanderson books that I’ve read, the world in Warbreaker is infused with a captivating magic system, compelling political scheming and plotting, unique and interesting religions and such rich history and mythology that I couldn’t help but fall in love with this novel. Sanderson expertly intertwines religion, culture, mythology, and history into a genuinely compelling narrative.

There were so many interesting themes that ran throughout the novel: religion, sacrifice, bravery, intolerance, self-discovery, compassion, empathy, and redemption. It also has an excellent cast of believable characters, a plausible world, an intriguing political system, and a thoroughly satisfying ending. I loved this epic, compelling, complex story of Siri, Vivenna, Lightsong, Vasher, and Susebron as they struggle through emotional, physical, and moral challenges. The intrigue and excitement grow steadily resulting in a perfectly balanced story which by the end, proved to be difficult for me to put down. All in all, a tremendous book that I absolutely loved.

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