strange and random happenstance

The Burial Witch by Cari Thomas
Published by: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: June 5th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 150 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

It's summer and Miranda Richardson has every second of her time accounted for. She has spent her life trying to live up to the expectations of her parents who already have two perfect children. But she never thinks she's good enough. If she can't even smile right for the family photo how is she going to achieve all her goals? They're laminated and on her wall; GOALS BEFORE THIRTY. Which is why instead of going to the park with her brother she is digging through boxes in the attic for a school project on the Richardson Family Tree. She's learning all about the Smiths and Evans from Shropshire and the local steel industry. Despite her father's enthusiasm she doesn't think she could be more bored if she tried. Yet she chose to look into her father's family and not her mother's. As she shifts the boxes of the past in the attic she finds a suitcase. It obviously belonged to her maternal grandparents. They emigrated from Nigeria to Peckham. Since their deaths her mother never talks about them. They are Richardsons, they can achieve anything they set their minds to. They don't dig into their past, they are a future-facing family. Which would be why Miranda is learning about Shropshire's steel industry. Her mother has made it clear that that part of their lives, her life, is over. The past is the past. But it's about to affect Miranda's present. In the suitcase she finds a box. There is something inside the box. When she moves it there is a clunking sound. Getting it open becomes her obsession. It's like a fairy tale come to life, this is her test. And she's failing because fairy tales don't come with instructions. She starts to slip in her work and she's distracted at church and lashing out. This little coffin shaped box leads her to do the unheard of. She has never disobeyed her parents, she wants to be like her mother when she grows up, and yet she goes to a shop that is off-limits. When A Sense of Craft opened in Richmond Miranda's mother tired to have it shut down. But this store and it's owner, Maya, might be Miranda's only hope. Though Miranda can't help but feel that Maya is a threat. That she's somehow involved in what's happening. Especially when Maya's advice opens the box to reveal a wooden doll. What could this mean? Miranda has to get to the bottom of this. Her summer was written and now she's dealing with magical forces, first loves, demonic dreams. If she wasn't highly strung before the events of the last few weeks she is now. The question is, will she embrace what's to come or bury it in a shallow grave?

Since I finished Shadowstitch I have been desperately craving anything new in Cari Thomas's The Language of Magic series. So when The Burial Witch novella was announced I was overjoyed. Preordered it from England to get it two months early overjoyed. And then I learned it was about Miranda. And my joy was somewhat tempered. It's not that I dislike Miranda, she's just the least interesting member of this Scooby Gang. Miranda has just been there, doing her thing, being conflicted about her religious beliefs and equally fighting and embracing this new aspect to herself, this magical aspect. She just is. And then The Burial Witch comes out and now I have to reread the whole series because of this new insight I have into her. Her OCD nature, her wanting to please her parents, her fear of the "other," all of this I relate to. Some from when I was her age, some from now. It's like she represents the different stages of my life and she's had to have all these changes thrust on her over one short summer. But what really struck me about her book, this book, is that you have to have no foreknowledge of anything else in this series for this book to work. It is a self-contained little masterpiece of a novella. Really, think British Stephen King at the top of his game and that's The Burial Witch. This is a perfect standalone horror novella in the tradition of Carrie. A religious girl is confronted by the unknown, there's temptation in this new knowledge, then, being who she is, she must find out more and goes to a forbidden shop where it's revealed that magic is real. And that dichotomy, that struggle in Miranda that Maya tries to help her with is to show her that not all religion is Christian and not all magic is bad. Which brings in the Vodun religion. Most people just think of rather racist and stereotypical Voodoo tropes. Whereas real Vodun is nothing like the movies would have you think. Yes, it's far away from anything Miranda might have experienced, and let us not forget she's lived a very sheltered life, but it's still holy. It's still divine. And so many books only use Vodun for the tropes, here it's handled thoughtfully. And what I really appreciate is that seeing as this series is set in England there's a certain kind of view of British magic. It's very Anglocentric. Yet England, like the rest of the world, is a melting pot. Therefore it makes sense that there are different kinds of magic. And having Vodun from Nigeria just works. There's a balance here that makes it both terrifying and respectful. Because it's how Miranda handles the changes where all the fear arises. The villain isn't magic, the villain is change. The villain is a future that wasn't planned out and laminated. That's a horror we can all relate to.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anglocentric, Cari Thomas, Carrie, Horror, Miranda Richardson, Nigeria, Novella, OCD, Religion, Scooby Gang, Shadowstitch, Stephen King, Summer School, The Burial Witch, The Language of Magic, Threadneedle, Top Ten, Vodun, West Africa

The Sisterhood by Tasha Alexander
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 23rd, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Victoria Goldsborough is shimmering like pearls in her white satin for her engagement ball but soon her skin will be cold like marble. Her murder is garnering more press than her wedding to the Marquess of Harrington ever would have. Of course Lady Emily's mother blames Emily for the young girl's death. Because obviously if Emily had been present so would Colin and no one in their right mind would dare commit murder in the presence of Colin Hargreaves. Though offering to help solve the case just further enrages Lady Bromley who storms off in high dudgeon. Emily being Emily she's going to investigate anyway. Mainly because she can not sit idol when there's a murderer on the loose. Plus she knew Victoria growing up. Sadly Emily was too old to be a friend and too young to be a mentor. Still, it makes this case personal. Which means Colin is off to speak to the king while Emily is writing to Victoria's younger sister Portia to get the lay of the land. Portia arrives in full widows weeds, which seems a tad theatrical, but then again, one of four girls without dowries raised by their grandmother making the match of the season only to be cut down in her prime is worthy of some theatrics. Though perhaps she doth protest too much? Emily can not rule her out for sororicide, but at least the suspect spills the tea. Victoria making the match she did has to have upset someone, perhaps even created an enemy with murder in their heart. Could that murderer be Cressida Wright? Who, according to Portia, wanted Victoria's fiancé Peregrine for herself. But murder might be too much of an effort for Cressida. Though Cressida is only one possible culprit. Peregine's friend Lionel Morgan has taken several loans from his friend and was with him moments before Victoria's demise. Frances Price was Victoria's dearest friend and while being properly prudish her family residing on Radical Row are anything but. Then there's Victoria's maid Ida who had recently committed suicide due to an unwanted pregnancy, how does that tie in? And one must never overlook the fiancé. There's only one thing that Emily and Colin are certain of, they are being deliberately manipulated. All the suspects' stories have been expurgated. They are purposefully hiding things. And if that wasn't enough, Sebastian Capet, the notorious jewel thief, happened to be purloining a tiara upstairs the night of the murder at Harrington House. But it's Emily's mother who might have broken the case wide open. It's those nasty suffragettes! An underground movement threatening decent society, a cohort of young ladies calling themselves Boudica's Sisters are trying to destroy the social structure. And Victoria was recently approached about becoming a member. But Boudica's Sisters seem to stand for everything Victoria was against. Except for the fact that she had a watercolor of Boudica in her bedroom. Could Emily's mother actually be on to something? One shudders at the thought.

At her release event for The Sisterhood at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, Tasha said that her first editor told her after she finished writing her second Lady Emily book, A Poison Season, "You have to keep these books in England. You can go into the country. Preferably London, fine a country house once in awhile. But that's what you have to do. And then you can own Victorian London." But Tasha didn't want to own Victorian or, as it stands now, Edwardian London. She wanted to take Emily out of the world in which she was raised and open her eyes. I have to say that I heartily agree with this. Every time that Tasha announces a new book I can't wait to find out which far-flung destination Emily will be going to. The year previously when she was promoting Death by Misadventure she mentioned that she and her husband Andrew were off to India to research the next Lady Emily book. Sadly I learned during that talk that the India book, Murder on the Scared River, was the next but one and Emily was returning to London. Now I will follow Emily anywhere, but I am with Tasha and not her first editor, those far-flung places call to my heart. But then Tasha came in and did her magic and, well, this book wasn't just perfection, it was perfection for our times. Because this book deals with women and women's rights. The Sisterhood shows how women can build each other up and tear each other down. How we have always been treated as second class citizens and, because of this, infighting is self-defeating yet expected and accepted. There are men lined up waiting to tell us how we're not good enough and yet we fight each other. We have common goals and we should band together and yet, put two women in a room and they'll either be expected to fight or fail the Bechdel Test. This book is set in Edwardian England and yet these are the same problems, safety, healthcare, rights, voting, power, that still exist today. What's more, with the section set during the rule of Boudica in Britannia you see that the problems of being a woman are endemic. We could be kick ass warlords and yet people will question that. Here's an idea, how about we question the right of white men to rule? How about we question all their decisions that are in our "best interests" that they made without consulting us? I mean, this book brings out a rage in me, because, when will it end? But that rage, that indignation, and then the reveal of the murderer's motives, all of that hit home so hard that I think I need to go rewatch all of Britannia to recover, because I love me some Roman miniseries. And then I'll reread this book, because, damn, it got me.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bechdel Test, Boudica, Britannia, Colin Hargreaves, Edwardian, Lady Bromley, Lady Emily, London, Marquess of Harrington, Murder, Rome, Sebastian Capet, Suffrage, Suffragette, Tasha Alexander, The Sisterhood, Top Ten, Victorian, Women

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: January 16th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Cambridge professor, Emily Wilde, PhD, MPhil, BSc, Dde, tenured, is back and this time she's going to be the one doing the rescuing! Because the Folk are calling again. And their intent is deadly. Emily and Bambleby are back at Cambridge teaching. She's now a published author with tenor and a much more spacious office that gives her a little distance from Wendell. After all she hasn't decided yet if she'll accept his marriage proposal. He is deposed faerie royalty and that is problematic. Especially when his stepmother sends several assassins after him. The attack during one of his lectures does rather out him as one of the Folk. Thankfully only one person was paying attention. But it couldn't have been a worse person to have witnessed it. The Department Head of Dryadology, Dr. Farris Rose. One doesn't know if he's angry at his own ignorance or at the danger that has been lurking nearby for his entire tenure since his predecessor was abducted by a bogle in the Hebrides. One thing is clear, he's willing to help Emily get Bambleby back to his realm as fast as possible. Which means it's time to put Emily's theory about a back door, a nexus, used by the common fae that courtly fae are unaware of, to the test. Plus it will be invaluable to her new project, a mapbook of the faerie realms. Emily believes she has located a nexus in the Alps, specifically the village of St. Liesl in western Austria. The reasoning behind this is that the famous dryadologist Danielle de Grey mysteriously disappeared there over fifty years ago while investigating fauns in the region. Tree fauns that are unique to Wendell's realm. And getting Wendell home is more dire than ever because he's losing control of his powers. It turns out that the attack on his lecture wasn't the only attempt on his life. His stepmother has also poisoned him. And on his birthday no less! Has she no decency!?! So the expedition to the Alps is happening immediately, and Bambleby and Emily won't be alone. Dr. Farris Rose has spent years studying the Folk of the Alps, he convinces them they need his expertise. This is not exactly a magnanimous gesture. He sees it as a way to help Emily and get ride of Wendell. Plus, he's willing to live with a lapse in ethics in exchange for answers to the great scientific mysteries of our times. And then there's Emily's niece, Ariadne. The brightest student Emily has ever taught with an impressive alacrity for getting what she wants, like being included on this excursion and being Emily's assistant. They are in for a dangerous adventure. The townsfolk of St. Liesl warn them that the night is full of dangers and the kingdom they are searching for has had a disproportionate number of disappearances. But it's their only option if they are to save Wendell. If they're lucky perhaps they will solve the disappearance of de Grey as well. If they're unlucky they may never be heard from again.

Oh my, I don't know when I've enjoyed a book so much recently. And while I love Emily and Bambleby and all the new characters, even Dr. Rose, my heart is in it for Danielle de Grey. The very idea of folklorists becoming folklore brings a smile to my face. To be out there, searching for the answers, theories of trade routes connecting faerie realms, and to just disappear. To have all your research, everything about you overshadowed by your disappearance. And yet this doesn't diminish her reputation, she was known as an irreverent character who has become something of a folk hero. An enduring legend of dryadology, and here is Emily accidentally solving the mystery while trying to help Wendell. Because while it was thought that she had become lost in the Otherlands, an old name for the faerie realms, she was trapped in the borderlands, wandering the edges of different overlapping realms where time lost all meaning. Which is why spottings of her around St. Liesl show her at different ages. She's in a fluid and amorphous fog enshrouded land where she can appear at any age. Was she even being seen or was she some echo imprinted on the wind? What's more, the love of her life, a fellow professor, Bran Eichorn, disappeared in 1862 searching for her in the environs of St. Liesl. He too was lost to the borderlands, forever searching for her. It was he that Emily first encountered. There was some connection between the two of them, perhaps the foot that Emily nicked that used to belong to de Grey. But he understands what she is trying to do and attempts to convince her that finding Dani is the answer. Emily can't be sure if this is altruistic or not. But just the idea of these two lovers walking through the mist for over half a century calling out to one another is so Bronte-esque that I can't help but love every second of their apparently doomed romance. Thankfully things end for them better than they did for Cathy and Heathcliff. But then again, it's not like any ending could be worse than theirs now can it? Just the whole vibe here made me want to go to the Alps and hide in a cottage and wander through the fog, but only during daylight hours while being tethered to an immobile stricture. What I also find interesting is that in reading about Eichorn and de Grey's relationship, they were unmarried but lived together in the 1860s. Were the social mores of this world that different from ours? Was it because she was viewed as irreverent that this was allowed? Or was it because she was a professor? Or is it because of the interaction between the human realm and the faerie realm creating different sexual mores due to what's been observed? I mean, Emily and Bambleby are at it in a tent and I have to ask, is this socially permissible? Because I love everything about this world and if they are a lot less prudish and "Victorian," well, all the better!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alps, Borderlands, Bran Eichorn, Brontes, Cambridge, Cathy Earnshaw, Danielle de Grey, Dr. Farris Rose, Emily Wilde, Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands, Fauns, Heather Fawcett, Summer School, Top Ten, Wendell Bambleby

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Haymitch Abernathy was born on July 4th which is also the start to Panem's annual Hunger Games. It's the day of the reaping. He has never lived in a world where the games didn't exist and when catching a few quiet moments with his girlfriend Lenore Dove before the Quarter Quell festivities kick off he honestly tells her that he can't envision a world where the Capitol isn't in power. He has a better life than most, a little money in his pocket from bootlegging, a girl whom he loves, and a family he cares about. If he can just get through today he'll be safe for another year. This year though there are double the tributes and he has twenty entries. After the four names are called and he and Lenore believe themselves to be safe one of the tributes, Woodbine Chance, tries to make a break for it and is shot and killed. Lenore Dove tries to keep the Peacekeepers away from Woodbine's body and Haymitch steps in to protect her, unwittingly putting a target on his own back. He is chosen to be Woodbine's replacement. Lenore herself would have been killed for her insubordination if not for the fact that Plutarch Heavensbee thinks her tears will play well with the Capitol. On the train to the Capitol Haymitch appraises his fellow tributes, Wyatt Callow, whose family is into bookmaking, so he knows the odds, Louella McCoy, a sweet girl whom Haymitch instantly forms an alliance with despite the disadvantage to himself, and Maysilee Donner, her family owns a sweet shop so she and her twin sister have always been well-off, Haymitch doesn't think she'll be of much use, but she is far more strategic than he could have imagined. Because District 12 is looked down upon and therefore never really viewed as a contender. This year they aim to change that despite everything. When Louella is accidentally killed during the chariot ride Haymitch snaps. He decides that what he wants to get out of these games is to prove to the Capitol that they are people, just like them, and his death, all their deaths mean something. This means he needs alliances to rival the careers. And a young tribute who's in the game just to control his father might be the key. Ampert Latier, the son of victor Beetee Latier, says his father wants to discuss tactics with Haymitch. And when they meet Haymitch asks if it's possible to break the arena. Time is running out, President Snow has told Haymitch that he will die in the games, and yet, a spark could change everything. Once Haymitch escapes the Cornucopia bloodbath he has a chance. A chance to survive and perhaps start a revolution. After all, he's found the allies he needs, now everything else just has to fall into place. He knows that the house always wins, but there's always an exception that proves the rule. He needs to be the exception.

While no one could accuse Suzanne Collins of writing light fare, the two Hunger Games prequels that have come out in recent years show the true depravity of the world she has created and her creature Coriolanus Snow. And I am here for it. Because I adored this book so much I decided to pick up the original trilogy for the first time in years and I was really struck by how much is left unsaid. Finnick Odair's spilling of the tea is more about what Suzanne Collins omits. At least on the page. Because victors were sex trafficked. They were used for their bodies and for their minds. Little spies for their president. And The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping are far more upfront about these horrors. These show the true darkness, the true depths of despair, and how far Coriolanus Snow will really go. This is a man who will literally poison himself to kill his enemies and will kill everyone you love. He doesn't do anything by halves. And that's what I kind of feel like the original trilogy is after the brilliance of the prequels, it was only half the story. Sunrise on the Reaping showed me why I could never fully get behind the original books, and it's Katniss. Until I got to see Haymitch in action I never realized how passive Katniss is. It's not that she doesn't want to survive. She does everything in her power to survive. It's that she doesn't act she reacts. She's a hunter-gatherer, going from day to day and kill to kill, not someone destined to plan a rebellion, just someone who is in the right place at the right time and is willing to trust Haymitch's instincts to become the spark that ignites the fire. And that rebellion? Well, here at the 50th Hunger Games people are already testing the boundaries in part due to Snow's extra barbarity with regards to the second Quarter Quell. Quite literally when Beetee finds a way for Haymitch to attempt to break the machine that is the arena by targeting the boundary which ends with a literal earthquake and a victory for Haymitch. After all, there's a reason they don't re-air Haymitch's game. It showed the fallibility of the gamemakers. Everyone was already working, already secretly rebelling, it would just take twenty-four more years for the right candidate to arrive and twenty-five years, to the 75th Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell and Snow's mistake of placing his victims all in one arena, for everything to fall into place. Which oddly made this book a comfort read for me. Yes, revisiting characters you know and love is generally a comfort, but here I took comfort in the fact that Panem was completely at the mercy of a madman and yet by coming together they defeated him. It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. That's the message I'm taking from this book. It's possible. We can get through this. It might just take awhile. And while we might never fully heal, but a pet goose couldn't hurt.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Capitol, Coriolanus Snow, District 12, Haymitch Abernathy, Lenore Dove, Panem, Prequel, Quarter Quell, Rebellion, Revolution, Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, Top Ten

The Spy Wore Silk by Andrea Pickens
Published by: Oliver-Heber Books
Publication Date: February 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 350 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Selina plucked her name from a spinning globe, much as she was plucked out of the gutter by Lord Lynsley. He saw in her a tenacity that would be perfect for his unique scheme, a scheme that saw orphans from the stews placed in the care of Mrs. Merlin where these select young women of no breeding would be taught to save England in its hour of need. They were taught culture and seduction. They were taught to wield a blade and a pistol as well as any man. In fact, better than many. They were taught to rely on their own wits and work alone for king and country using the more subtle forms of warfare. And as the war with Napoleon rages on, England has need of Merlin's Marauders. Or it has need of one of them, their best. Selina. It is time for her to fly. There is a traitor who has been leaking documents to the French through expensive and rare editions of books. The most recent missive that has been stolen is in regards to Russia's alliance with England. If this were to make it into the hands of the French that alliance would come to an end. Because of the unique method of delivery the traitor might have tipped their hand. The Golden Page Club is a group of six men with disparate personalities who come together to talk about incunabula. Dunster, Fitzwilliam, Winthrop, Leveritt, Jadwin, and Kirtland are all men of means, but it's James Winchester, the Earl of Kirtland, whom Lord Lynsley has singled out. Kirtland had a rather glorious military career that ended rather publicly. If any one of these bookworms holds a grunge against England, he is the most likely. Which is where Selina comes in. She has launched herself, rather dramatically, into society as The Black Dove, a courtesan in search of a protector. And that protector could only be a member of The Gilded Page Club. All six members have been invited to Marquand Castle for a fortnight for an exclusive auction of a set of rare fourteenth century Burgundian Psalters illuminated by the monks of St. Sebastian Abbey. Thanks to Lord Lynsley, Selina will be one of the guests. During the course of the house party she will host a competition amongst the six men to see which one of them will protect her. All the challenges though are designed to route out the spy. Little did she think when starting this mission that her heart was most at risk. Selina is in danger of falling for a man who might just be a traitor according to Lynsley. But only time will tell if her instincts are right about Kirtland or if she's unwittingly risked the fate of her country.

I have been a fan of Andrea Penrose since I picked up her book Sweet Revenge on a perfect bookstore outing with my Dad one cold winter night in 2011. And yes, I can close my eyes and picture myself there in Barnes and Noble just like it was yesterday and not fifeteen years ago. Little did I realize that Andrea Penrose was just another pen name of Andrea DaRif, who taught a class at Yale in 2010 with perennial favorite, Lauren Willig, called "Reading the Historical Romance." If I had put two and two together I would have hunted down all her books before that felicitous bookstore outing. For my blog's Regency Romp back in 2022 I devoured all of her Lady Arianna books having not realized that they had continued as eBooks after the first three were released in paperback. I had a lot of catching up to do. It was glorious. But after you've read all the Lady Arianna and all the Wrexford and Sloane books and even read her books written as Cara Elliott, what is a reader to do? It turns out she thankfully had YET ANOTHER pen name out there, Andrea Pickens! And, well, it just so happens that Andrea's partnered with Oliver-Heber Books to re-publish a number of her old Signet Regency books as well as her Mrs. Merlin's Academy for Extraordinary Young Ladies series, The Spy Wore Silk being the first volume in this series. I went into this book with no expectations and was wonderfully surprised that this book felt written just for me. Books, art, a country house party!?! All while trying to foil dastardly spies? Seriously, written. For. Me. It captured the same joy I had when I first read Lauren Willig's The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, which is the standard by which I judge all modern authors writing in the Regency. Yet there was also the delicious romance of Lisa Kleypas's Wallflowers series. And yes, I realize that at this point all I'm doing is listing favorite series that The Spy Wore Silk reminded me of, but that's because I honestly think that after reading only the first book that this will become a new favorite series of mine and I can't wait to read the next three books. This book was just such fun, with memorable characters and so much appetizing alliteration. But what I felt stood out from the crowd with this book was that by posing as a courtesan Selina is treated very differently by men. This isn't the ton we are used to. Yes, women are always in danger of being compromised, for Selina it could be much much worse. They all think she's chattel and treat her as such. Thankfully she can defend herself. But this sure isn't Jane Austen's England. I need more!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrea DaRif, Andrea Penrose, Andrea Pickens, Books, Cara Elliott, Courtesan, Lauren Willig, Lisa Kleypas, Merlin's Marauders, Pink Carnation, Regency, Sweet Revenge, The Black Dove, The Spy Wore Silk, Top Ten, Wallflowers

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Published by: Bramble
Publication Date: July 9th, 2024
Format: Kindle, 384 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

When fleeing a revolution it's hard know to what books to pack. Kiela Orobidan is a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium. She's spent the last eleven years safeguarding the spellbooks contained therein, third floor, east wing. Now that the emperor has been defenestrated and the flames are coming closer, Kiela, and her best friend Caz, a sentient spider plant, have to flee. She's been packing and repacking the library boats for about a week in case of this eventuality, constantly conflicted over which books are the most irreplaceable, and now that the day has arrived, well, she doesn't know what to do. If she's honest with herself she didn't think the day would arrive. Rulers come and go but libraries are eternal. She thought the library would be secured by the rebels not looted! After all who doesn't love books? Perhaps the revolutionaries when the knowledge has been hoarded and kept out of the hands of those who could use it.... Well Kiela and Caz have their hoard and given the destruction they've witnessed, they might possess the last of the greatest treasure of the Crescent Islands Empire. The books have to be protected, first and foremost, and after much contemplation a plan is formed. It might not be the best plan, but it's the only plan they've got. They are returning to Kiela's home island of Caltrey. Her parents left to live a better life and give Kiela more opportunities. She might have gained a calling in the library but she lost her family, her freckles, and gained a host of antisocial disorders. Coming back though will only be temporary. They'll protect the books and not think about the fact they could be charged with theft, and lay low until this whole revolution business is settled. Upon returning to Caltrey the plan is to hide out in the house where Kiela grew up in, which is technically hers she realizes. Pretty soon though it's clear that there will have to be some interaction with the islanders. She has to eat. Also, there's her neighbor, Larran Maver. He's cute and way too helpful. Years ago she was kind to him and now he wants to repay the favor. Only Caltrey is suffering. It used to be that the emperor would send his sorcerers out on a regular rotation to tend to the outer islands. They'd cast spells that balanced out whatever nonsense they'd done in the capital city to build their palaces and fuel their lavish lives while ordinary people suffered. This threw the weather out of whack but then sorcerers stopped coming and the problem continued. Fish began to get scarce, and the merhorses, which Larran breeds, have dwindled. Kiela feels a need to do something. But protecting the spellbooks is a whole different kettle of fish than using them. If she's caught it could be disastrous. But if she doesn't help all of Caltrey will suffer.

I have been trying to not buy as many books and utilize my local library more. But then I borrow a book like The Spellshop and my resolve is out the window. Before I even finished reading it I was trying to find out where to get a signed copy of it and it's "sequel," The Enchanted Greenhouse. The Ripped Bodice in Los Angles came through for me and I'm hoping they will again this year when Sea of Charms comes out. Because I had to have a signed book. When I go all in on a book it isn't by half measures. And this book is my jam, in more ways than one. As literally everyone I know has said, this book is like the hug you didn't know you needed. This book embraces you in a world of sentient plants and jam and merhorses and winged cats, I mean, come on, winged cats! I want a winged cat. I also want some jam too. Yes, you will get hungry reading this book but you will also be satiated. The Spellshop is about finding your home, found family, and realizing that the more friends you have the safer you are. It's about building a community and coming together when times are rough. And, well, times are very rough, so I think we could all use a little bit of compassion. I want to live in this world. I want some defenestration and good trouble. What I love about fantasy is that it is magical and wonderful but it also holds up a mirror to our world. Basically the Crescent Islands Empire is in the midst of their own French Revolution. They literally cannot take the corruption for one more minute. Sound familiar? But what I love is that Sarah Beth Durst shows how, in this world, climate change is happening because of magic. Caltrey and other islands are almost destroyed by these horrific storms and it's all because the emperor has stopped sending out sorcerer envoys to fix the problems. They keep doing what they're doing, fiddling while Rome burns, and they just say damn the consequences. Does this sound relevant? As I write this the EPA literally just said they no longer care about the cost of human lives. As long as the rich are getting richer why bother trying to save people who they really don't want to save in the first place? But that's why we form communities, that's why we help each other, that's why we need at least 3.5% of us to finally have had enough. On a more personal level though this book help up a mirror to myself. The awkward book nerd who just wants to sleep in the stacks and be left alone. Whose anxiety at interacting with others is occasionally off the charts. I am Kiela. So can someone point me towards my sexy merhorse breeder? I'd even settle for a sentient spider plant!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Caltrey, Caz, Climate Change, Community, Crescent Islands Empire, Defenestration, Flying Cats, Found Family, Kiela Orobidan, Larran Maver, Library, Magic, Merhorses, Revolution, Sarah Beth Durst, Spider Plant, The Spellshop, Top Ten

Redwall by Brian Jacques
Published by: Philomel Books
Publication Date: October 23rd, 1986
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

The festivities at Redwall Abbey are underway for Abbot Mortimer's Golden Jubilee. It is the Summer of the Late Rose and the abbey has been blessed with peace and abundance. As the inhabitants scurry about with last minute preparations there's Matthias, tumbling cowl over tail, scattering the hazelnuts. Oh how he longs to be graceful and brave like Martin the Warrior, the founder of Redwall Abbey, whose tales of derring-do have always transported him. But as the Abbot tells Matthias, we are now an order of peace. The time of Martin and his famous sword and shield are over. The Abbey is a place of happiness and refuge as all the denizens of Mossflower Woods arrive to celebrate the Abbot. But that night a horrific scene unfolds on the road outside the Abbey walls that Matthias and Constance the Badger witness. A large Portuguese water rat and his army are on the road. They were astride a demented horse and cart. A council is called that night. The rumors of Cluny the Scourge seem to be true. He is the worst kind of warlord and the Abbey has to be prepared because it doesn't look as if Cluny is just passing through. He has set up camp at the Church of St. Ninian's and has his eye on the Abbey. It would be the perfect seat for his empire, Cluny's Castle. Plus the mice will surely just hand it over to him without a fight. They're just little mice, he has a rat army! Little does Cluny know that while they are a peaceful order now they were founded by a true warrior and they will protect those who need protecting. When Cluny arrives at Redwall Abbey with the articles of surrender that all his conquests must abide by he is shocked by their iron will and then terrified by a tapestry of Martin the Warrior. Cluny is transfixed by the image of Martin as he is the shadowy figure that has been haunting the rat's dreams. Shaken, the rats leave the Abbey to regroup. And then Cluny attacks by stealth and steals the tapestry, at once capturing the object of his nightmares while trying to demoralize the mice by removing the effigy of their protector. He underestimated the mice, Redwall prepares to protect itself at any cost, even war. As Matthias bemoans to Brother Methuselah, if only they had Martin the Warrior's sword and shield they might stand a chance against the Scourge. But Methuselah tells Matthias that the young mouse is so like Martin that perhaps, given the clues built into the very Abbey walls, that these totems can be recovered and used to spur them on to victory. Though a sword is, in the end, just a sword, and it's the true warriors that will win the day.

I learned about Brian Jacques's Redwall series at Christmas in 1993. Friends of our family who always gave me and my brother books for Christmas got him Martin the Warrior. This was the first time I saw a sword wielding rodent on the cover of a book under Brian Jacques's name, but it would certainly not be the last. As my mother started as a grade school librarian at my old school when I started high school her job was to keep up with the trends, and the biggest trend was Redwall. Our local bookstore had a wall dedicated to Brian Jacques just as you entered on the left hand wall and that was usually the first stop when stocking up on books for the school library. The thing about each and every one of these books is they are just beautifully done, the covers, the chapter art, even if you've never read them or plan to read them, you covet them for your bookshelves. All twenty-two of them in the end. I finally got around to reading Redwall for the first time in 2000, my guess is that the added exposure from the the television series made me finally bite the bullet. I enjoyed it enough to read the second book, Mossflower, which, as I found out, was not the sequel. But if you're a fan of this series you know there are multiple flowcharts and timelines to study if you really want to do a deep dive. Picking this book up again a quarter century later I was enchanted by it. Sure, there's a lot of death, but there's this comradery, just a whole bunch of people coming together and defeating the baddie without dissension while also having amazing vegetarian cuisine. This was just the right book at the right time to make me feel good and cozy while also wanting to topple tyranny. Though I think I'm the exact audience for this book, it was written in the eighties and released when I was eight, so it fully embraces the traumatize your child vibe that us eighties kids know so well. It's The Secret of NIMH meet Cadfael meets The Name of the Rose, whose star-studded adaptation came out the same year in wonderful synchronicity. A comfort despite all the death and destruction, which I think anyone who has watched The NeverEnding Story ad infintum knows aren't mutually exclusive feels. Though this one has more of a human element than later volumes, which Jacques says was intentional. But I still would love a deep dive on where the hell the idea for Basil Stag Hare came from. Is he a time traveler from WWII? I mean, I love animals thinking they're secret agents and spies, the foxes in the Rivers of London series being the prime example, but for a pseudo medieval world this was just weird. But I like weird, so we're all good.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Brian Jacques, Cadfael, Christmas, Cluny the Scourge, Eighties, Library, Martin the Warrior, Matthias, Redwall, The Name of the Rose, The Neverending Story, The Secret of Nimh, Top Ten, Vegetarian Cuisine

A Bride's Story, Vol. 15 by Kaoru Mori
Published by: Yen Press
Publication Date: December 16th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Henry Smith's time in Asia has come to an end, or so his family has decreed. He has been captivated by his study of the Silk Road and the people he has met along the way. But his family are worried about him, his sporadic correspondence might be to blame, and they have "requested" that he return home. His family friend in Ankara, Mr. Hawkins, has been asked to intercede on their behalf as he himself is leaving the conflicted region. The fact that Henry is still alive is a bit of a shock to Mr. Hawkins, but nothing to the shock he will receive. Henry had wished to retrace his steps and say a fond farewell to all those he had met along the way, to try to capture them forever in his mind and on film with a camera he was able to acquire. This would have been a long, parlous, and probably impossible journey with the movement of Russian troops, but Henry has an additional hitch. Awhile back he met a young widow, Talas. They had fallen in love but her duty to her mother-in-law made her say goodbye to the scholarly Englishman. Yet her love for him endured and she has followed him to Ankara. Mr. Smith now intends to take her on this journey as his wife. Not just through their abbreviated sojourn among his past acquaintances, but all the way back to England. Mr. Hawkins begs him to reconsider but Henry's mind is made up. Eventually Henry, Talas, and her beloved horse Chubar, make their way to the Port of Bombay. There they book passage back to England. But Henry's homecoming is anything but welcoming. His mother won't even meet Talas and will do anything to stop them from actually marrying. The scandal would ruin them. Or so she claims. Thankfully Mr. Hawkins comes to the rescue. His family have a disused hunter lodge that Henry and Talas can live while things settle down at home. Henry will work on assembling his copious notes for publication while Talas will keep sheep. English sheep might look different, but a sheep is a sheep and she knows what she's doing. She's a practical woman. She's even considering putting Chubar out to stud. Yet Henry is her opposite, a true dreamer. Which is why he decides that if he presents Talas and his marriage as a fait accompli his family will accept her. They set out for Scotland with his brother and Mr. Hawkins as co-conspirators. But will their plan work? Only time will tell.

I first discovered Kaoru Mori back in 2010 through her manga series Emma. I was so desperate to read this story that was out of print stateside that I ordered the first volume from England. Thankfully the proceeding six volumes were available through my local library. Though, if you are a fan of this manga about a Victorian maid finding love, you will perhaps notice that my library didn't have the final three volumes and I had to wait until they were rereleased in an omnibus format to finally read the ending. And that didn't happen until seven years later. All this is to say that when a Kaoru Mori book comes out you buy it. You do whatever you can to buy that book because before you know it you won't be able to get your hands on it ever again. Yes, I'm looking at you Shirley. You're the holy grail. When A Bride's Story first started getting released in English in 2011 we were spoiled in that twice we got two volumes in a single year. Now it's a volume about every other year. Not that I'm complaining. Kaoru Mori's art is so intricate and amazing, down to the finest detail of fabric or bread, that I can't believe she can even keep to a biannual schedule. From the day I picked up this series I have been captivated but this "slice-of-life tale that is at once wholly exotic, yet familiar." The stories of each and every character have captivated me. They are my friends. We readers have journeyed with Mr. Smith along the silk road and met nomadic tribesmen, overstimulated twins, skilled hunters, sister wives, and blunt bread makers. When he started to head towards Ankara in Vol. 10 it was wistful. Because as readers it felt that once his journey came to an end the series would come to an end. And as he traveled with Talas to Port Bombay it felt like a farewell tour. We weren't just saying goodbye to these characters but this way of life that Russia would soon destroy. Yet this volume showed how this story could continue outside of Asia. We see Talas and Henry struggling and succeeding to make a life. It's a different, solitary kind of life, but I can't help feeling that as long as they have each other they will survive and thrive. Though what touched me most was the quiet moments. Kaoru Mori always has these vignettes that don't tie into the rest of the story but show a moment in time in these characters' lives. Here it was how Chubar was struggling on the sea voyage and how the ship's cat came to befriend and therefore calm him. It was this moment of two animals living symbiotically that brought a smile to my face on the darkest of nights. This series just keeps me in it's thrall. The black and white line work, the characters, their stories, I never want it to end. I can't wait for Vol. 16, but it will be at least two years. Perhaps I should reread it all again? Or maybe reread Emma... You can never have enough Kaoru Mori in your life.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Bride's Story, A Bride's Story Vol. 15, Asia, Chubar, Emma, England, Horse, Kaoru Mori, Library, Manga, Marriage, Mr. Henry Smith, Russia, Ship's Cat, Shirley, Silk Road, Talas, Top Ten, Turkey, Widow

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: October 8th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Alex Stern has been given an opportunity she never thought she'd get. At the age of twenty she is going to be a freshman at Yale with a full ride despite never having graduated from high school. How did she even get to New Haven? She had thrown her life away, living among the dregs and the drug dealers in California. Then she miraculously survived a gruesome multiple homicide that claimed the lives of her best friend and her boyfriend. That horrible night at Ground Zero she lay down next to Hellie hoping to never wake. But she did. In the hospital. While cuffed to her bed she was approached by Dean Sandow from Yale. He wanted her to tell him about the Grays. It turns out Alex has been able to see ghosts her entire life. Her "job" will be to join the Ninth House, Lethe, it is a regulatory body for the Ancient Eight, the eight secret societies at Yale, Skull and Bones being the only one that the general populace believes to exist. She accepts Dean Sandow's offer and is eastward bound. To a girl christened Galaxy by her hippie mother just the prospect of Yale's cafeteria is a dream come true, but being thrust into the world of the elite could take some getting used to. Take Daniel Arlington, Darlington, for example. He is there to mentor her, the Virgil to her Dante, and shepherd her in her duties to the other houses because once he graduates she will take over his duties. Darlington is the epitome of a Yale student. Like the members of the other houses, he is a golden boy, but underneath that golden exterior he's different, he's a true believer with an encyclopedic knowledge of New Haven. While the two of them are exact opposites when Darlington disappears Alex realizes that she might be in way over her head, not to mention her course load piling up on top of the demands of Lethe. Now Alex has a problem, find out where Darlington went and bring him back. But as the new moon ritual draws near she is drawn into a murder on campus. At first it looks just like a tragic death of a townie, something Yale really doesn't care about. But Alex sees herself in Tara and while her investigation brings up no untoward evidence when a gluma attacks her she knows her instincts were right. Tara was murdered. A Gray saves her and she realizes that something far deeper is at play at Yale. She will get to the bottom of it and find Darlington, though it might just kill her.

There are some books that need to be read at a certain time to work. There are some books that need to be reread in a certain frame of mind to work. The first time I read Ninth House I detested it. And detest might even be too forgiving a word for how I felt. The way this book deals with rape and rape culture is highly problematic. Trauma can not be erased by something bad happening to those who hurt you. It might be cathartic, but in the end it's nothing more than a temporary balm. It's dismissive to think that it is. But so much of this book is just trauma heaped on trauma all these characters are going to need a lifetime's worth of therapy just to start handling all that they have been through. The first time I read this book I just couldn't get past this. And yet so many people I know loved this book while acknowledging it's flaws. It wasn't these friends who led me to pick up Ninth House again but Leigh Bardugo herself. She is a fabulous writer and, well, there was a sequel now. I adore the Grishaverse and there were some books in that series, in particular Crooked Kingdom, which needed to be reread to be appreciated. Once I had to come to terms with the death of Matthias I could appreciate that book. Therefore I had to embrace the flaws of Ninth House before I could learn to love it. I mean, it's still not perfect, but this time I was able to enjoy the journey without quibbling about all my issues. I was prepared to face the dark with my armor of salt. And, as I write this, some of my issues, especially with regard to trauma, are being dealt with in the sequel, Hell Bent. But rereading Ninth House I can say I think the one thing this book does really well is capture just how overwhelming the adjustment to college life is. It made me nostalgic but it also made me have some serious nightmares about missing final projects and exams. And I'm not just saying this as a way to justify how Leigh Bardugo writes about Yale and New Haven with such an insiders view. Because while it might come off as pompous and elite, there's a part of me that gets it. This is the world Alex has been thrown into and she herself is trying to become an insider while she is very much an outsider. An outsider who is rather one-dimensional. She's basically the Katniss Everdeen of Yale. Reacting not acting. But I forgive her. She's been through a lot. Here's hoping she gets the therapy she so rightfully needs. And here's to second chances. Alex needed one and well, so did I with this book.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex Stern, College, Crooked Kingdom, Darlington, Grays, Grishaverse, Hell Bent, Katniss Everdeen, Leigh Bardugo, Lethe, Matthias, New Haven, Ninth House, Rape, Second Chances, Secret Societies, Skull and Bones, Top Ten, Yale

Louise Brooks: Detective by Rick Geary
Published by: NBM Publishing
Publication Date: June 1st, 2015
Format: Kindle, 80 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Louise Brooks was once an it girl. A talented and renowned dancer from the age of sixteen and when Hollywood came calling she answered. On the brink of stardom she recklessly failed to renew her contract with Paramount Pictures and took herself off to Germany. The film she made there with G.W. Pabst, Pandora's Box, became a classic of Weimar German cinema but was dismissed when it was first released due to it's frank depiction of sexuality. In 1930 she returned to Hollywood but it seemed that Tinseltown was no longer interested in a girl primarily known for the cut of her hair. In 1940, at the age of thirty-three, she made a "strategic retreat" back to Wichita, Kansas and the home of her parents. She didn't just view herself as a failure, her family did as well. She also lacked the skills to help out around the home. She just wished to disappear into the stories she loved to read in her room. The family wasn't about to let this happen. In the evenings they all listened to the radio. The city was transfixed by a sensational locked room murder. A wealthy widow had been stabbed. In her locked bedroom. The mystery had Louise itching to play detective. But real life was intruding. The times were lean. People came to the door begging for a scrap of food or an odd job. And that's what Louise needed. A job. She opened The Brooks-McCoy Dance Studio. Louise's name recognition was at least bringing customers through the door yet how long could that last? Soon the class sizes where dwindling and the writing was on the wall. Louise Brooks was a failure. Yet again. Soon she took a final, desperate step, into retail. It got her out of her parents house at least, which was usually only achieved when she went out to lunch with her friend Helen who would regale Louise with stories of her improbably named sweetheart, Walden Pond. Though Louise had a friend and a job her life was dispiriting. She decided something needed to be done. Why not become a writer? And she actually knew one, right outside Wichita to ask for advice! Thurgood Ellis and her corresponded back in the day when Louise was just starting out in New York City. He lived in Burden, just an hour's drive southeast. Louise decided to just drive there, and it turned out her friend Helen was also heading to Burden. She thought Walden was finally going to propose at Grouse Creek Falls. They set out separately but would soon be reunited by a police pursuit. As Helen and Walden had helped a man who repaid their kindness with cruelty. Walden is dead and Helen's hopes are dashed. But Louise can't help but think nothing adds up. It's all the details that are wrong. Will she be able to solve the crime or will she perish as Walden did, in a pond?

Rick Geary is no stranger to my top ten list. In my mind he is the definitive graphic novelist for true crime and his telling of the Halls-Mills murders in particular is sheer perfection. When I started delving into his back catalog the only one of his titles I couldn't get through my local library was Louise Brooks: Detective. So I bought it cheap for my Kindle. And then it just sat on my Kindle. My to be read pile is now so unmanageable I should just call it my to be read oubliette. Books go in and never see the light of day again. But then something happened. I watched the 2018 adaptation of Laura Moriarty's book The Chaperone. I did not like the 2018 adaptation of Laura Moriarty's book The Chaperone. I mean, logically I should, so many people from Downton Abbey were involved, it seemed perfect for me. The problem was the film isn't about Louise Brooks, the film is about her chaperone Norma Carlisle. Yes, I obviously should have guessed the focus because of the title, I just didn't realize how much Louise Brooks would be sidelined. I felt bad for Haley Lu Richardson. She was giving it her all as Louise and instead we're dealing with Norma's abandonment issues and how she's handling her sexual awakening. At least Haley Lu Richardson got the break she deserved four years later thanks to The White Lotus. What all this is saying is that I wanted something actually about Louise Brooks and thanks to Rick Geary I finally found it. While Louise solving a crime when she moved back to Wichita for a "strategic retreat" after the collapse of her career didn't happen Rick Geary, with his history of retelling true crime, sets this story up in such a way that you believe it could have happened. There's a propulsive force to the narrative. We have this great backstory, not just Louise's career, but her diminishment on returning home, and then added to this is a day unlike any other. Louise just sets out to visit an old acquaintance and because of one weird coincidence after another she is able to see what the police don't. First she gets lost, then she misses her turn, then she gets a flat, if all these little things hadn't added up she couldn't have definitively told the police that there's no way in hell the chase continued further west. And because of that they find the body. But Rick Geary is able to make this feel real because he's studied so many classic crimes and he sees that it's the weird coincidences, the tiny details, the almost unbelievable yet unassailable facts that are what make up true crime. This might not have happened, but it feels like it should.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Downton Abbey, Film Star, Graphic Novel, Haley Lu Richardson, Kansas, Laura Moriarty, Louise Brooks, Louise Brooks: Detective, Lover's Lane, Norma Carlisle, Rick Geary, The Chaperone, The White Lotus, Top Ten, True Crime, Wichita

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: November 7th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Viv's dreams are finally coming true. She might be a young and inexperienced mercenary, but what she lacks in knowledge she makes up for in enthusiasm. But she is green, in more ways than one, and after spending the best two months of her life with Rackham's Ravens on the trail of the necromancer Varine the Pale and her army, the worst thing happens. She's injured. Sidelined in the seaside town of Murk. Room and board. And boy is she quickly bored. She has to be in fighting fit when Rackham comes back through town in a few months. Whatever it takes she will be ready. To that end she starts roaming the streets to build her strength up. Though it's not so much her strength as shoddy workmanship that results in her crutch going straight through the boardwalk in front of a bookstore. And Viv is an orc of honor. She goes inside to confess her crime and hopes to offset the damage by buying a book. Something she's never done. The store's own, a rattkin named Fern, is intrigued by Viv and gives her a book with the caveat that when she finishes it she comes back and tells her what she thought. She's not to worry about payment, she can pay if she decides to keep it. Viv decides to keep it. She never knew that books could be exciting and sexy and a whole new type of adventure. In fact she not only pays for the book but she fixes the boardwalk outside Fern's store. In fact soon Viv is a regular at the store with her new friend Gallina, a gnome who wants to be a mercenary just like Viv. They start to fix up Fern's shop, hoping to bring in new customers. Well, actually, any customers. Fern's at her wit's end. This shop was the dream of her father and she doesn't want to lose the last thing of his she has left. Well, if Viv has her way, Fern won't. They source new furniture and make reading nooks and book displays and have baked goods from the sexy dwarven baker down the street, Maylee. It might not be the recuperation that Viv expected, but it's turning out to be the one she needed. Until a man in gray appears. He sends a shiver down Viv's spine. The next day he leaves behind a satchel in the bookstore and nearly kills Viv in a fight but Gallina comes to her rescue. All three brawlers end up under the gimlet glare of Iridia, the head Gatewarden. They cool their heels overnight, but when dawn comes the mysterious stranger is gone but in his place is the certainty that he worked for Varine. The fight Viv was sidelined from might be coming to Murk. And now she has something more to lose than her life.

My book club read Legends and Lattes. And if there's one thing about my book club it's that we have such radically different tastes when it comes to books that we will never agree on anything. So for those of you thinking that Legends and Lattes is a fairly innocuous book you'd be wrong. Because one member had "issues." Of course this is the member whose tastes I am the least compatible with. They actually tried to defend Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada, otherwise known as the book that almost did me in, as perhaps being written ironically. With that much hate and racism even if it was ironic the toxicity oozing out of the pages made me physically ill and put me in a reading slump for a long time. So their issues with Legends and Lattes? They felt that Viv didn't struggle enough in her decision to give up her mercenary lifestyle and that it was too much a fait accompli. They wanted turmoil and second-guessing. I personally didn't feel this because the journey of Viv wasn't her journey to realizing she wanted to change her life but to making her coffeeshop a success. So what they wanted was another book. What they wanted, ironically, was this book. When Legends and Lattes was chosen for book club I had just finished reading it the month prior and instead of rereading it I thought to myself, how about reading the prequel/sequel instead? Which meant that I could say, hey, you know all that lack of struggle you were complaining about? Read this instead. Because here we don't have a settled Viv, we have a young and hungry Viv who is in forced convalescence. She was trying to prove herself and waylaid by an injury she's a ball of pent-up frustration with no outlet. But I love that Viv. And I love that this is the proto Legends and Lattes Viv. You can feel her youth and her thirst for adventure, but you can also see how because of this injury and the friendships she's made in Murk this time was formative. This is where her love of reading started. As well as her love of baked goods... But what touched me most is Fern. Fern sees this injured orc shamble into her bookshop and sees someone who has never picked up a book. Someone who doesn't understand that adventure can be found on the page as much as on the trail of a necromancer. And she asks Viv to give her a chance to turn her into a reader. Because hasn't every one of us had a Fern in our life? Someone who hands us the right book at the right time and that's it. We're booklovers for life. Oh, and ironically, the fact that this book has a necromancer would have alienated a different member of my book club. We all might be booklovers, we just really love different things.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Baking, Books, Bookshops and Bonedust, Bookstore, Fern, Gallina, Injury, Legends and Lattes, Mercenary, Murk, Necromancer, Orc, Rattkin, Scattered All Over the Earth, Top Ten, Varine the Pale, Viv, Yoko Tawada