booksthatburn's Reviews (1.46k)

I enjoyed this immensely, it has a very enjoyable fable-quality. The cast of characters are well-developed and fun to read. It's a world based on mythology from Wales while being distinct from it. 

A witty and enchanting follow-up, A RESTLESS TRUTH follows Maud Blyth as she tries to secure a piece of the Last Contract. 

This continues the general mission of collecting the pieces of the Last Contract and securing them to protect the other magicians of Britain, it also follows Maud (Robin's sister) who briefly appeared in A MARVELLOUS LIGHT. It doesn't completely wrap up anything left hanging from the first book, but it does move forward on a variety of plot points in a way that's suitable for the second book in a trilogy. There's an entirely new storyline related to Maud and Violet, as well as the mostly self-contained issue of the murder and Last Contract piece on the cruise ship. The restricted location makes this feel like a bottle episode in a way I wasn't expecting but is pleasant to read. Oftentimes the middle book in a trilogy can feel a bit neglected, existing only to bridge between the beginning and the finale, but partly because it changed narrators and has an entirely new location this feels fresh and can almost entirely stand on its own. Several major things are introduced and resolved, including but not limited to the immediate issue of figuring out who committed the murder and how to keep them from achieving their broader aims. 

The plot is a mix of complicated hijinks and social navigation as they try to find a missing item and solve a murder, all while avoiding the attention of the culprits even when they haven't yet figured out who is involved. This would mostly make sense to someone who hadn't read the first book, the relevant backstory is explained as needed and generally avoids feeling like infodumping. The corollary is that it doesn't spend much time explaining what happened in the first book, since at a certain point that isn't crucial to Maud's experience since it happened to her brother instead of her. Maud and Violet are new narrators to the series, and their perspectives feel very distinct. Violet is guarded even in her own head, in a way that means I came away understanding the shape of her reticence more than the details of her history. 

Maud and Violet's relationship has a lot of care and deliberate exploration of them as people. Maud wants to know everything about Violet, but Violet is a much more guarded person and isn't ready to show more of herself to someone she just met a few days ago. I appreciate how their levels of physical and emotionally intimacy are treated as two distinct things, both needing attention but not necessarily lining up precisely.

My favorite character is Lord Hawthorn (due mostly to my personal preferences and not implying any fault with the others), I was excited to see him playing more of a role here than he did in the first book, and I'm very hyped for the forthcoming third book which stars him and Alan Ross.

HEART OF THE SUN WARRIOR picks up a little after DAUGTHER OF THE MOON GODDESS. Xingyin is back on the moon with her mother, but now neither of them is bound to stay. Xingyin is still the narrator, and her presentation is consistent with the first book. This wraps up the relationship triangle established in the first book between Xingyin, Liwei, and Wenzhi. It also establishes and resolves a new storyline, related to Xingin's mother and her parents' past. As the final book of the duology, it's self-contained enough for the main narrative to make sense if someone didn't read the first book, but the friendships, allies, and enemies who drive the story were almost all established earlier. It's very good at recapping when necessary in a way that feels very natural, but it'll definitely be more resonant to someone trying to remember what happened earlier, not someone who didn't read the first book at all.

The worldbuilding leans on things set up in the first book, expanding on a couple of new areas and spending much more on the moon and Xingyin's parents. Her mother is finally free to leave the moon and this makes way for opportunities long denied to her. It is immersive without getting bogged down in descriptions of each place. They have a distinctive character conveyed through Xingyin's reactions and worries, as well as the people in the various areas. It's not as travel-heavy as the first book, with a much more straightforward quest in a shorter timespan. The elixir of immortality is in play once again, and the quest, in this case, is to flee and not die from the king's wrath, while hopefully figuring out how to stop a plot against Xingyin's mother. 

Xingyin is still torn between Liwei and Wenzhi, with both men making their interest clear but not pressuring her. Her complicated feelings are driven by events in the first book, and she's trying to sort out her thoughts and desires. They represent two different kinds of lives in addition to being different people, and she's strongly bonded to them. I like this better than a lot of love triangles, but I must admit that a part of me wishes this resolved like IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao. It doesn't because Liwei and Wenzhi are not at all interested in each other, and so it remains a choice between people on Xingyin's part.  Ultimately I like how it ends, I think it fits the characters and the narrative. Because they are immortal unless actively killed, this is very early in Xingyin's presumably long existence to come, and the ending is very aware of that. It helps to solidify the sense that this is one particularly important and eventful chapter in her life, but that this isn't the end by any stretch.

Nathaniel, growing into his new identity as John Mandrake, summons Bartimaeus once more when a strange force begins smashing through buildings and the Resistance steps up their efforts. It introduced a new storyline around the golem, and a whole new backstory for Kitty and the Resistance. It wraps up some things related to Nathaniel's previous encounter with them, but doesn't close it off completely. The mystery of the golem's origins and the specific person controlling it are introduced and resolved. A few things are left for later, since it's ambiguous as to whether the golem was part of some broader effort to destabilize the current government in some way, either to take it down or just to change the faces in power. 

Nathaniel has changed somewhat, having been shaped in the intervening two years by working in the government and getting logistical support (but still little to no emotional support) from his new master. There's a scene where Bartimaeus remarks on the changes in him. Bartimaeus is his usual sardonic self, descriptive and witty, making the best of his resumed slavery and forced corporeality. Kitty joins the rotation of perspectives, and is a welcome addition. 

The backstory is explained enough that someone could probably start here and have the book make sense, but part of the point is the changes wrought in Nathaniel and how things have developed since the first book, so some broader connections would be missed by readers who didn't read the first book. 

In keeping with the idea that various magics have been around for a long time, but the British version in particular is a legacy of conquest and colonization, there are mentions of an American campaign against what are implied to be the native peoples of that continent. Additionally, the golem is of Jewish origin, and Czech magic becomes specifically relevant. Nathaniel is slowly becoming inculcated into the classist, colonialist mindset of a British magician, and is not very open to Bartimaeus's perspective on the matter.

I always get stressed out by Kitty and Jacob's run-in with a magician, and this re-read was no exception. I like this book and I'm appreciating a lot of the commentary on colonialism in a way that I didn't track when I was a kid reading this.

From the first page, THE FERRYMAN felt like mint chocolate cotton candy: a novel flavor combination which initially is a heady experience but eventually feels bland in its sameness. It’s startling at first, because it’s a flavor which does not normally belong in cotton candy and seems at first like a cool idea, but ultimately contributes little to the conversation of what makes a tasty dessert. I do not, generally speaking, want the book equivalent of cotton candy, but the writing is gripping and the world was interesting at first. 

Ultimately I stopped reading when the bland misogyny became too frustrating. In a world where every marriage is a contract with a time limit (the parties can renew), it makes no sense for the main character to have a level of jealousy and possessiveness that in the real world is cultivated through an assumption of monogamy as a default. I read an ARC and so will refrain from using quotes in case the final version changes substantially, but this was a setup I've read before executed in a way that was frustrating to read.

I loved every minute of FOUL LADY FORTUNE. The narration is a perfect blend of banter and introspection, with each character deep in their own plans and intrigues, punctuated by moments of tension and violence as death stalks Shanghai.

The worldbuilding is a mix of new details and brief references to relevant events in the earlier duology. There’s just enough detail to provide some updates on characters from THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS and OUR VIOLENT ENDS who don’t appear in FOUL LADY FORTUNE, without spoiling too many events from before. There are enough characters for the cast to feel full, but the focus stays on each narrator long enough to be immersive in their perspective before showing a different set of events. Rosalind and Orion's relationship in particular looks very different from each of their viewpoints, with Orion bemusedly accepting how hard he's fallen for Rosalind (without even knowing her name isn't Janie). 

The resolution of the mystery creates a satisfying end point to the novel while also setting up what promises to be a fascinating sequel. I'm very excited to read what comes next.

*Updating with the sequel check now that this has been recharacterized as the third book in a series rather than the first in a duology.

As the third book in a series, FOUL LADY FORTUNE builds on events in the first two books by following Rosalind Lang after her earlier intrigues and betrayal. She is functionally immortal and generally impervious, physically stuck at nineteen, even as the rest of the world moves on. She's been using her talents as an assassin, but now is ordered to team up with Orion on a spy mission, all while pretending to be someone else who's pretending to be someone else, none of whom are herself, Rosalind Lang. It wraps up some things left hanging, with details about what happened to some characters from the first two books, as well as specifically showing what Rosalind, Alisa, and Celia are up to. There's a new storyline which can mostly stand alone (so much that this was originally listed as the first book in a duology), related to a series of attacks in the city, and the spy mission for Rosalind and Orion. There are several major things introduced, but generally there's more information about them without completely resolving them (as the next book is expected to do so). This isn't the last book and it ends with some very specific things left for later. 

Enough of the story might make sense on its own for someone to have a good reading experience if they start here without having read THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS nor OUR VIOLENT ENDS, but the experience will be more meaningful if this is treated as the third book in a series.