DNF 188 pages in. 

This is my second attempt at reading Star Daughter and it just doesn’t click with me. I think the thing that’s irking me is that it’s full of pining for the status quo to be different but we don’t actually spend any time in the status quo she’s objecting to. So changes don’t feel important, it just feels like I’m getting jerked around. Almost as soon as we meet her kind-of-boyfriend we find out he knows her secret so it doesn’t feel like a betrayal to me as a reader because I don’t have the emotional weight of liking him first... I struggled so much with this book.  The MC will say what she thought her state of mind was going to be and then tells us what it actually is... but when the first time we find out what she thought it would be is when it's something different it just feels confused.  A minor example that shows this issue without really being a spoiler: the first time we ever hear about Little India in/near her neighborhood is when she finds out it has a magical night market. Cool, yay? But since we didn’t visit it at all or have the mundane side of it discussed previously my reaction isn’t “wow Little India has a magical night market!”, it’s more like, “oh sure, this new story location (Little India) has a particular feature (a magical night market). I’m not excited because I had zero expectations as to the existence or non-existence of this place. This really is a minor example, but it comes on the heels of several like it that are definitely spoilers. 

I didn't get as far as the actual competition part of the narrative, so I can't vouch for how any of that plays out. If you want a story that spends at least the first half feeling like the aftermath for something you didn't get to see, you might like this. I like the MC's best friend, she feels so much more vibrant than the MC, so much so that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that in the second half the book reveals the MC's emotions were dampened by being on Earth or something, that's really the only thing I can think of that would make the flat characterization and lack of tension around the MC's narration feel purposeful. But, for me, I spent almost half the book waiting to care about the story and that just never happened, so I'm calling it quits.

This book is "what if a teenage X-Men fan plus a random group of her classmates actually got superpowers", with all the delight and awkwardness that this description implies. The MC is nervous, not good at the whole "friend" thing and really believes that she's responsible to DO something with her newfound powers. The overall effect is earnest and extremely relatable if you've ever been really into some THING that just became weirdly relevant after years of obsession, or if you've ever dreamed about all your random knowledge being useful as more than a curiosity. 

I like how the powers kind of fit their personalities while still not being anything I could predict. It feels like the kind of sideways logic that's emblematic of a superhero origin story without being overdone or trite. It grapples with moral grey areas in a way that's generally fun to read while being appropriately grim when necessary. The characters make a pretty great ensemble, and I like how they work to make their strange powers be effective when at first glance they don't seem very useful (neither singly nor together).

The only thing I didn't like was that the characters in general and the MC in particular had a tendency to use the kind of (usually self-effacing) ableist language that's so ubiquitous that most of us don't realize it's ableist until someone points it out (lame, dumb, etc.). It's a minor quibble in an otherwise fantastic book since the language isn't directed at anyone in an actively ableist way, but it was so frequent that it was distracting for me. I hope the characters learn better soon, but it was frustrating to read something full of ableist language when it could have used other words to convey the MC's low self-esteem. 

VALIANT only has one MC, which keeps it more focused than TITHE, letting us get to know this one character pretty well. The setting feels (and is) very different from TITHE, but it's so disconnected from the fae and the visceral feelings that made TITHE so good. I'm having trouble discussing it without referencing TITHE constantly, which doesn't bode well for this as a sequel. The setting relies too much on already knowing how the fae work from TITHE, but since this is a completely new protagonist who's new to the fae it would have made sense to get more of an explanation, to see a new person's wonder at this world. There is a brief Court visit, but most of the fae barely interact with the MC for various plot reasons. It is a completely different slice of this world, I will give it that. 

In my review for TITHE I commented on how Asian (specifically Japanese) rep and gay rep were handled in the book and why that kept TITHE from being a book I can highly recommend. Unfortunately that's come back here. That's because TITHE established that fae have eyes which are "upturned" or "look Asian", it then makes me think that the frequent but random references in VALIANT to unnamed background characters appearing Asian to the human MC (in a book where no other racial categories are mentioned) makes it feel like I'm supposed to assume all those random "Asian" people were actually fae. It's either that, or the author was concerned that the reader know that unnamed characters we don't speak to and will never see again appear Asian (and in one case, specifically Indonesian) without ever commenting on other ethnicities, which doesn't sit right with me. As for the gay rep, there's some homophobic bullying of the MC at the very start of the book, with the insinuation that a secondary character who's present is lesbian. I'm taking that as canon for this to have a lesbian character, but her sexuality doesn't come up again anywhere else in it, and it also leaves ambiguous whether the MC is straight or if the bully was right that she's queer and she's maybe bi or pan (since she's in a canon het romance later on). It's completely superfluous to the story and the only thing I can think it's trying to accomplish in the narrative is maybe establish that she's unhappy at school as well as at home, since her bully is on the same school sports team as her. Either way, it feels like, once again in this series, the treatment of Asian characters is narratively strange and very othering, and queerness is used to explain ostracization. Which, you know, is a thing, being a queer kid can be lonely in an unsupportive environment, but this book just lets it hang there, with neither explanation nor relief. I want to be clear, I'm all for queer background characters, main characters, everything. I just want their queerness to exist as more than just an explanation for homophobic slurs against allocishet character main characters. 

Since this is book two of a trilogy, it's time for the sequel check! Normally I'd check whether it wraps up something left hanging from the previous book, whether it has a storyline which starts in this book and wasn't present in the previous one, and whether it has a major thing that's introduced and resolved within the book, but functionally this is indistinguishable from just being a stand-alone book. It's technically in the same world, and we briefly run into some of the book one characters, but you wouldn't have to change anything to make it stand by itself. There is a status quo shift after book one which has effects in this book, but, again, it could just have easily just been the starting point without any reference to the first book. It's such a self-contained story that it didn't leave anything open to resolve in the next one. I guess I want to know what happens to these characters next, but it didn't even leave their options very open since they have an entire conversation about what they'll do after and it seems pretty settled. I am happy to report that the MC feels very different from either of the MC's from TITHE. and finally, this would completely make sense if someone picked it up without having read the first one, the only thing you'd be missing is that you wouldn't understand a couple of references to prior events and you wouldn't recognize some of the characters from TITHE who briefly appear here. One positive from its position in the series is that I feel like I got to see what the previous MC's are up to, so that was nice.

I hate think this book in the trilogy is completely skippable, but that's how I feel about it. The thing that turns this from a book I can't highly recommend into one I would actively advise you to avoid is that it kept the problems from TITHE without most of the stuff that made TITHE shine, and also without the in-universe justifications for those problems. The Asian rep in TITHE is cringey but it has an explanation. In VALIANT there is no explanation, just an obsessive need to make sure we know every time there's an Asian face in the scenery (I hesitate to even call it rep). The gay rep in TITHE is tangled with abuse and BDSM in a way that could be problematic but also creates a really engaging MC whose queer identity matters to the story. In VALIANT there's just a homophobic slur and a probably queer best friend to come back in to the rescue when the (implicitly allocishet) MC needs some help.

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.  

CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY Is about being true to yourself, following your dreams, and making your small slice of the world a little safer for the ones who come after.

The plot rotates between focusing on the MC's inner struggles and musical aspirations, the queerphobic treatment they encounter at school, and their relationships (both platonic and romantic). Early on these sections felt a little more divided, but as the book continues these facets of the MC's life bleed into each other as the MC figures out how they're actually interrelated and how solutions in one arena can lift up every other part of their life. 

This is a book I wish I'd had as a teen, it's got a good balance between explaining the MC's queerness and just showing them living it. Part of that experience is dealing with homophobia, queerphobia, and transphobia as a genderqueer high schooler, and part of it is a sweet but tumultuous romance as the MC keeps getting in their own way. The friendships (and friend list) change and grow throughout the story in a way feels appropriate without being rushed, and I had time to really get to know their friends and how they are around each other. The chapter headings keep the reader up to speed on their oscillating pronouns, coupled with a simple and effective method for the characters in the book to keep track too (color coded bracelets). I really appreciated this because it meant I could relax and not constantly be bracing for them to be misgendered. This book also made me wish I knew more about Mariah Carey; the MC's passion for her music and their enthusiastic knowledge about her life was woven throughout the book in a blend of allegory and coping mechanisms which are foundation to the story. As someone who doesn't know much about Mariah, I was grateful that references to her were given enough context to make the parallels and inspiration clear without distracting from the story. I learned more about her via the MC, which in turn connected me even more to the MC as they processed their experiences and emotions via their passion for the singer, rather than being emotionally isolated from the MC due to my minimal knowledge of Mariah. 

DNF 112 pages in. 
It had the makings of a strong commentary on sexism, imperialism, and the way we treat those who either can’t speak for themselves or are never given the space to do so. I liked it at first, but it’s an emotional roller coaster because of the blend between kinds of bigotry which are clearly intentional and examined in the narrative and ones which don’t seem to be on purpose and are various kinds of casual racism/xenophobia or using words now understood as slurs. What made me stop was the realization that the portrayal of the titular character felt like an ableist and allistic understanding of an autistic person, complete with extremely literal interpretations of vernacular, and stress reactions which are difficult to describe without using the world "meltdown". This character was raised by aliens and is new to Earth, which was further troubling because it seemed to be associating classically (but not exclusively) autistic traits with being a literal visitor from outer space. It's possible that it gets better later, but I was too stressed out to see if it did.

Raybearer is a powerful and empathetic fantasy about what one does when it turns out the empire isn't perfect after all, for nothing good can be built on the pain of children.

This story plays with the line between and ill-informed narrator and an unreliable one, as I read it I had a steadily growing feeling that the world in the book was deeply wrong, that either the MC would double down on her cognitive dissonance, or else she must try to make things right. Either way, something had to give. I'm very pleased with how that was handled, I had enough hints of what was wrong in order to not feel lied to when the underpinnings were revealed and the MC was forced to reassess her goals and make a new path for herself. 

I like the balance between secondary and minor characters, given that the MC becomes canonically close with a rather large group of people I think the choices made in who was fleshed out and who is more in the background worked well. It felt like a large group without overwhelming me with names and motivations to keep track of. I love the beginning and the middle, and I think the ending is good given that there's a planned sequel. A few components of the ending felt a bit rushed, but the finale feels suitably grand for the scale of the problems being addressed. It's also trying to balance competing story interests and I think it works overall. It had to have an appropriate resolution within the timeframe of the novel while still leaving room for the sequel to have something to pick up. It makes it very clear that the problems began before the MC entered the story, and that solving what she can will take time and effort, some important pieces of which happen in this volume.

This book is filled with care, choosing carefully which deep wounds and dark backstories require description and which are left to the reader's discretion and imagination. There are many plot elements which are built on adults having decided at some point that it was okay for children to suffer, but this is an ultimately and joyful and empowering book about reclaiming agency and making things better for the ones who come after. I eagerly await the sequel.

There was so much death in Jade City that I came into Jade War assuming this book would be a river of blood, but I was wrong in the best way. This is an excellent and moderately bloody sequel filled with the political and inter-personal fallout from Jade City (plus a lot of its own thing which sometimes does actually involve a lot of blood). Many of the moves made here are positioning and jockeying for the final stages of this conflict which I expect will happen in the conclusion to the trilogy, Jade Legacy. There are moments of (sometimes very intense) violence and a conclusion which had me on the edge of my seat; the tension and quiet between are managed really well across the nearly 600-page book. Jade City set me up to expect that anyone could die and that a lot of people would. This is the calm before the oncoming storm of violence and blood, featuring some damage, and a little death, but not nearly as much as Jade City. That also meant that I had time to really get to know and worry about all the characters, since if it had been a 600-page bloodbath I would have been numb to it halfway in. No, it's not like that; there's time to care, to rest, to mourn, to pick up the pieces and carry on before something goes horribly wrong all over again. 

This is book two of a trilogy, so it's time for my normal book two check. This wraps up several things which were left hanging from the first book; The storylines are complicated enough that I expect the repercussions of how many things were wrapped up will have echoes in the third book, but many things feel either resolved or escalated to a more serious level where we have something legitimately bigger things to worry about and the small stuff is closed. There's a pretty major storyline which is introduced and resolved within this book. I'm thinking of a particular one, but there are several contenders depending on how narrowly you define "introduced and resolved" in this volume. There are, heh, so many things for the sequel to pick up. This is the saga of a family and a nation, every book spans years, and I'm very excited to find out what happens to them after this portion of the story. There's also some pretty major things that come to a head at the end of this book and I need to know the aftereffects. There are several returning POV characters from the Jade City, plus a few minor ones, and their narrative voices feel pretty distinct even though we don't get much time with the minor characters narrating. Sometimes those differences are accomplished through conveying their assumptions about what's going on, as different people have different levels of information, but the rotating cast of main point-of-view characters definitely have distinct voices from each other. And, finally, answering whether someone could start with this book and have things still make sense... I think so. Because the book has so many story threads and characters it's actually pretty good about grounding you in the importance and history of a character either the first time they show up in this book, or pretty soon after. It never felt like infodumping to me, but there were little descriptions or things the characters were mulling over which could either make someone remember their importance from the first book, or serve to establish them to someone who hadn't read Jade City but decided to read Jade War. I read Jade City a few months before reading this and the reminders were welcome without ever being annoying. Enough time is passing for the characters that those refrains are important even if you remember everything because it lets you know what the characters are still worrying about one, two, or even five years after it happened. That being said... don't read this by itself. Yeah, it'll probably make sense, but the resolutions that do happen here will be so much more meaningful and emotionally impactful if you've already spent a whole book getting to know the characters and the world first. 

I appreciate the way that this series so far is really engaging with the way that this kind of bloody decade-long conflict would leave a lot of people with disabilities, both visible and invisible. There's a character who became disabled in Jade City who reappears in Jade War in a minor but important role, as well as discussions of how various characters are either ignoring or dealing with the emotional impact of all this stress. There's also a character whose entire arc in this book is built around how he recovers (or doesn't) from some pretty brutal trauma in the first book. I can't vouch for the realism of each individual depiction of disability, but as a whole it creates a feeling that author took the time to try and get it right on a variety of facets. It's good worldbuilding, great storytelling, and makes me feel cared for as a reader even as I worry which of my favorite characters will die next.

Over the Woodward Wall is a fairy tale with stranger hunger and feathers under its skin, unfolding a winding world in the overlap between strange and familiar.

The MC's are fantastic together and separately, they're explicitly very different people in a way that suits the narrative without feeling like they're caricatures of children. The way their relationship builds and is complicated felt natural and really, really good. They had an amount of emotional progression that fits the size of the story: enough to make this slice of their adventure help the grow as people, but not so much as to break narrative immersion. The secondary characters have ways of looking at the world which feel aching and sharp, for they are of the Up-and-Under which has its own rules to flaunt, follow, or break. 

I love the narrative style, the narration speaks about the MCs in a ways that is explanatory without ever dismissing their sense of their own agency, even (or perhaps especially) when their sense is that they've lost their agency in some fundamental way. The cast of characters is surprisingly large for such a small book, but they're linked thematically in ways that make it easy to keep track of everyone and their role in the story. That archetypal repetition supports the style of this story as a kind of fairy tale. Not that it has fairies exactly, but that young protagonists go to some strange place and meet a variety of anthropomorphic creatures and a smattering of implicitly human but still rather strange characters. For established readers of this author, you'll love this whether you come to this book having read Middlegame and needing to delve into this companion novel, or you love the Wayward Children series and are ready for something with similar bones but a very different look. This book is a companion of sorts to Middlegame, but it can be read and enjoyed completely separately from it. 

Overall I love this and I'm very excited for its eventual sequel.

*I received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.  

Assuming as a baseline that we’re all here for the vampires and sexy times with occasional but pretty gory smatterings of blood, this feels like a book which will garner one of two reactions: consternation and bewilderment that the MC wouldn’t leave as soon as things got bad towards the middle of the book, or cathartic recognition of the ways that social power dynamics, emotional coercion, gaslighting, and a whole lot of narcissism combine to create a situation perfectly suited for manipulation and social isolation, even when surrounded by people. One need not have been a victim of a narcissist in order to have this catharsis, but I suspect that for people like myself who have had or still have one such person in their lives, there will be a special kind of recognition of the temporary good and the frequent bad left by this kind of all-consuming presence. I must be clear that this is not a book on how to deal with narcissists, nor especially one for learning the lore of vampires. It is instead an atmospheric, emotional, sexy, and sometimes joyful story of a very small and often toxic family spread out across centuries and a couple of continents. 

The world-building is sparse in terms of vampire lore because in a way the characters’ vampirism is incidental to much of the story. I don’t think this is a problem, it just carries its emotional weight in the dynamics between the characters and the MC’s introspective narration. The early book has style that’s full of vibes with enough details to ground it where it counts. It’s pretty well balanced between foreshadowing later events and conveying the MC’s changing state of mind during her early centuries nearly alone with her sire. . It shows the little details of how she could be so dependent on him so quickly. Sometimes she's very specific about the kind of manipulation he's engaging in, which is so important because this kind of grooming and abuse makes what ought to be a dynamic of consent between adults into something... else. Something murkier and scarier. A long slow slide where enthusiastic consent turns into grudging consent turns into perfunctory concession, and, somewhere along the the line, while it would be hard to say that any particular instance was rape, something probably was (and it canonically was for their many, many victims, but the book thoughtfully spares us these gorey descriptions). Each time a new person is introduced there's an adjustment that is well-depicted. I love the way the MC untangles her complex feelings which are torn between what each newcomer actually does and what their presence represents. It's refreshing to read something which weaves together the words of a manipulator and abuser with the context to untangle what could be mistaken for affection but is actually control at best and abuse at worst. The MC and each newcomer claim the space to figure out their own relationship and boundaries with each other, but their sense of their own agency is often tenuous as the sire's ire can strip them of the little agency they'd gained. Eventually something happens that lets the MC start to acknowledge the abuse that’s been happening. This shifts things into a mode of “look what you made me do” from their sire as his abuse is more flagrant. I love the ending, it’s poignant and powerful, giving just enough attention to the sire one last time while specifically moving on and de-centering him in his eternal absence.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a quiet story of one Black woman's life two generations out from slavery, trying to be happy and find a life she'd like to live. 

This book is the story of a life, the MC's life, and the relationships she has beginning as a young woman until she's in her forties or fifties. The narration is full of care, gently stepping in every once in a while when what the MC is thinking goes beyond what she feels safe to say (or even is ready to think). 

I love how the MC is handled, especially the way the book covers a very long period of time by focusing in on the decision points, the times where the level of agency expressed by the MC is changing in some way. It keeps the focus on her and her choices rather that subjecting the reader to many pages covering spans of years where she wasn't steering her life. The sections describing the MC’s realization that her inner life and exterior presentation needed to be separate for her safety and self-preservation is so powerful and insightfully written. The whole book handles misogyny in a way that makes it both unmistakable for what it is but also understandable as something that women (specifically Black women in the USA one to two generations away from slavery) would put up with for their own survival. It has a way of describing a way the world was (and often still is) without making it too stressful to read. The secondary characters (even the ones we're maybe not supposed to like) are written really well and their motivations are understandable even, perhaps especially, when they conflict with the MC. 

I'm mostly in awe, at the end of reading this, and I fear that my review feels sparse because of it. It feels steeped in life, soaking it in, as much as it can hold until it can take no more and lets everything out in a roaring wave. There's enough framing that we enter the main narrative with a question of why did the MC come back home after leaving, then the main story is so absorbing on its own merits that we forget about that for a little while. Until, at last, we have the answer and end where we began, with a quiet story told of a long life lived sometimes well, sometimes poorly, that isn't over yet.