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Glitterland and Aftermath by Alexis Hall
I’d previously read and fallen in love with Alexis Hall’s various fantasy series, but hadn’t tried any of his contemporary books. Glitterland is about a super grumpy[1. in his own words: “The truth was, I’d rather be a dick than a lunatic. I’d rather be hated than pitied.”] writer who has BPD/anxiety problems, many trust issues, and an inability to NOT cause trouble for himself or others. Somehow he stumbles across the sweetest (and somewhat ditzy) Essex model to ever walk the face of the earth, and they fall in love. Gradually, and with ASh denying everything along the way. There is dialect! SO MUCH dialect. It takes a heap…
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Mystic, Remnant, Some Kind of Magic
I read this because of Memory! Also G. Willow Wilson is writing Ms. Marvel now (which I very much enjoyed) and I wanted to try another of her books. This one’s about two friends: one destined to be a great magician and one who, well, isn’t. It is super short– maybe too short, as the story moves along at a breakneck pace and character development suffers as a result. With only 96 pages there isn’t a whole heap of room for anything but the main plot. The beginning was so strong that I had high expectation for the rest of the book. Unfortunately, the pacing was way too fast and…
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Adrien English Mystery series by Josh Lanyon
I binge-read almost the entire series two weekends ago, and I enjoyed it immensely. Mystery! Romance! Other stuff! This is a massive review and there are spoilers throughout, though I’ve hidden the biggest ones as best I could. Tbh, not the best in the series nor is it my favorite. It’s rough, with lots of bumps. But it’s a decent intro to the characters and the world they live in. Basically, Adrien gets sucked into trouble, his friends mostly all die, he’s totally alone and there’s a weird cop[1. who, it turns out, is a self-hating in-the-closet gay s&m dude who is attracted to Adrien but also can’t stand being…
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The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton
The Philosopher Kings gets off to a bad start, tbh. The Just City has separated into multiple cities, all with differing ideas about what Plato Really Meant, Aristotle-the-fly disappeared, Pallas Athene never came back, and worst of all Simmea, my favorite character from The Just City, dies. She’s murdered during an art raid. She’s dead! And that really hurt. Apollo didn’t much like it either, and he spends the majority of the book trying to come back from his overwhelming grief. Maia is also dealing with things, including her rapist from The Just City wanting to apologize and be friends again. Everybody’s depressed from the raids and people dying and…
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In Discretion by Reesa Herberth
This is a short little scifi horror/romance story about two ex-lovers who meet again on a space station while on the run from angry zombies, assassins, and their own unresolved issues (it wasn’t a happy break-up). I really liked this! I wish it was longer, as I didn’t entirely understand the background conspiracy plot which lead to the zombie outbreak. A little more room for worldbuilding would’ve made it more emotionally satisfying when the conspiracy came to light. As it was, I mostly didn’t care since it was barely there. And the characters, Kazra and Thanson, really stole the whole show. They’re childhood sweethearts who broke up in a bad…
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Meatworks by Jordan Castillo Price
This showed up in my recommendations after reading a Jordan L. Hawk book, I think. They don’t really have anything in common except a first name and that they write m/m romances– also Meatworks is, if anything, a dystopian-ish[1. everything is super regulated and you basically have to sign in/out of every single building and the robots are always following you and the government is always watching.] scifi book set in an alternate universe where robotics evolved faster than anything else. So, like, people have robot limbs! But no smart phones. Meatworks reminded those really gritty late 1980s punk novels, the kind where you’re not entirely sure whether the protagonist…
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Stormhaven by Jordan L. Hawk
All the wonderful things from the first two Whyborne & Griffin books are present in this third one, plus more. Action, adventure, romance! Spooky monsters! Stormhaven has a heavy Lovecraft influence, this time in a “dweller of the deep” kind of thing. Gods being summoned from the depths of the sea, (more) secret magic cults, insanity and possession all have a big part in the story; it’s super spooky and made me think of dark stormy nights the whole time. Wonderful atmospheric writing, as always! Not only is it another terrific blend of mystery, horror and romance, it doesn’t rest on its laurels re:its characters. My favorite thing about series…
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One-Eyed Jack by Elizabeth Bear
Things I have a soft spot for: gods (or something similar) trying to make it in America, odes to places not much oded to, boyfriends, personifications of cities gaining sentience. Things this book has: all that! Plus Elvis! Any book with American-grown gods is going to be compared to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, but what’s different about One-Eyed Jack is that they’re not so much GODS as personifications of cities (or certain genres of media!) given life. Their choices affect the city; the city in return affects them. So, for example, if a formerly-important city dries up and turns into a ghost town, the personification either dies, too, or they…