The Silver Forest is as compelling as it is imperfect. The wizards are fascinating – inscrutable and detached, almost inhuman. And terrifyingly powerful. The first chapter illustrates this magnificently. I was breathless as Malzus made his attempt. It’s also where the first cracks show. It can’t be helped that there are nine members of the council and it does an admirable job of not overwhelming you. However that doesn’t remain the case with chapter six throwing eight characters your way. And seven characters in chapter twelve. 

Malzus is detestable and pitiable, and I enjoyed reading his chapters but they stood out instantly as some of the weakest parts of the book. Not all prologues are set in a different time than the story proper but having it as one rather than the first chapter would have signalled that more clearly. Better yet – a subheading. We find out that’s the case when the narrative returns to Malzus and there’s a mad dash to recount all the years that have passed. It almost makes you breathless trying to keep up. This does improve with each of his chapters but it’s not the only time this happens. 

Chapter six and twelve are overloaded with characters. Some of whom I expect to become more relevant as the series progresses but some of whom are just thrown in to die. It’s hard to keep up for that reason alone but I have never skipped a stone across water as much as this chapter does across locations. There are fantasy novellas, yes. But the image conjured by the mention of them tends to be longer works. A few more chapters would have given both the narrative and readers more space to breathe. 

The longer chapters don’t entirely escape this sense either. They encompass such spans of locations and progress that they often read like run-on paragraphs. It leaves the pace uneven. But while our first meeting the Aris is frustrating and unclear the world building does find its feet. The Tulanders by virtue of having connection to Asmar and Remer but finer details come through with time. I do love that craftsman are so happy to tell Asmar about their work, for instance. It does toe the line of infodumping but their pride in their work saves it. 

Asmar and Remer are the strongest portions of the book. They have the most internality and their characterisation is strong. It spends the most time focused on them so their sections have the strongest sense of consistent pacing. Asmar’s identity is obvious but the reveal comes at a well paced point in the story where the mystery has built but not overstayed its welcome. And there’s a quiet tragedy in Asmar’s journey as he becomes the person who can face Malzus and ever less the boy from Tuland. 

Through the book is carefully woven doubt in the way wizards are and are seen. It truly is excellently done. Whether this is a tragedy of falling short of ideals or it leans into the aspects most resembling colonialism will be riveting to see play out. 

Thanks to iRead Book Tours and J.D. Rasch. I leave this review voluntarily. 

 Sedona is complicated. An enjoyable mystery with a characterful cast. I should like it more than I do. Unfortunately its synopsis is untrue. It wasn’t a search for more that drove Cal to Sedona. It was her dying grandmother. And rather than spunk she suffers the stresses of underemployment, healthcare and making rent. I will give Sedona it’s due, however. It illustrates her troubles (and that of a tourist town in off-season) nicely without losing focus and wove the two together well. 

I enjoyed the mystery as it played out. Her continual need to stop and rethink her own approach was interesting. At twenty-two, Cal is young and naive with a startlingly black and white worldview. Cal does inspire exasperation at times, but sympathy too. And I totally get her excitement sweeping her off her feet. Her growth is satisfying to watch unfold. 

Most of the book is told in her perspective but diverges here and there. I mostly appreciated this because those chapters all provided great character work but it did feel in some instances like we readers weren’t trusted to understand what was going on ourselves. There were scenes in these chapters which were excellent and could only have come from this switch in perspective. Nonetheless, given Freeman’s ability to handle the nuance of her characters and settings, even while writing in Cal’s often limited view, I can’t help but wonder how necessary they were. 

For the most part the book understands that it’s dealing with people’s beliefs but it doesn’t go out of its way to validate them or sneer down at its characters who believe. But it’s still fraught. There’s a lot of woo and stereotypes. Cal does hear ‘Native American flutes’ where there are none. A slur against the Romani makes its way in. And there is a miraculous recovery. 

‘Behind the curtain of every wndow’ are secrets is also a bit of a stretch. There’s really only one mystery – what is going on at Belle Butte. Most of the town’s secrets tie into that so it doesn’t quite come across as ubiquitous though there are threads that could spin into a sequel. It stands solid on its own, however. That said I’m interested where Freeman goes next because of how much its strengths stand out. 

Thanks to iReadBookTours and Kerry Fryar Freeman. I leave this review voluntarily. 

 Go! Go! Loser Ranger! has such a simple deconstructive premise that I’m surprised it hasn’t been done to death. Unfortunately I’ll likely have to wait a little longer before I find an iteration that I really enjoy. The manga has a distinct style but it’s one consisting of many panels and often a lot of shading and effects. There are moments where Haruba wields sparseness excellently. However I find it tends to crowd together. 

Its cast of characters is quite small. This should have been to its benefit. However given the focus on setting the stage they mostly fall flat. D is single-minded to the point of one dimensionality. Hibiki Sakurama doesn’t have many appearances which is a shame. He isn’t righteous, nor vengeful, and I can’t help but hope for his dream of reform even though I suspect it’s hopelessly naïve. But it’s Yumeko Suzukiri I’ve thought about most. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was just waiting for someone like D to show up. Her portrayal is so mysterious, however, that it totters between intriguing and empty. 

Nonetheless there are effective character moments. It was exciting when a character went mask off. The comedy can be slapstick. D frequently loses his head. But that moment sets the stakes beautifully. The Super Sentai fight scenes aren’t quite as impressive to me when drawn but there are excellent confrontations and Haruba makes great use of the Dusters’ abilities. 

All in all there’s a lot of promise in Go! Go! Loser Ranger! and I would recommend it. 

When the arcs were first offered I pounced on the sample chapter and instantly plunged into love with the beauty of Navola’s language, on the far-flung mysteries of its wide world. I had to know what followed that dazzling cliffhanger. And it did not disappoint.

The world of Navola is wide and vast. And while its intricacies could be dense, it wasn’t intimidating. In Davico’s telling it flows from the page smoothly and with ease. He sits in the scittorium surrounded by scriveri, numerari and abacassi, and we learn the world in the context of itself. I love fantasies woven through with language and enjoyed it immensely here. My interest and fascination were piqued as well by Davico’s lessons with Dellacavallo on the wonders of the natural world.

A world that was so easy to fall in love with. Navola’s beautiful palazzos and twisting alleys, the wild Romiglia, and whispers of deserts passing beneath a dragon’s wings. The interludes offered a brief glimpse of the world outside of Davico and I loved them for it and for the anticipation they built for what would follow. I wanted to sit by as minstrels spun their lush myths. And it made the book all the more hypnotic as Davico grew and the mire of the city and its politics cast darker and darker shadows across all of it. Bacigalupi builds tension the way a storm rolls in, first flickers of atmosphere, rising, rising, rising, to devastating crescendoes.

Often I’ve written about my love of stories about stories. The thrust of this book is politics and all the treasons that entails but it’s woven so well with all the stories that the characters tell themselves. Both about themselves and the people around them. When Davico was warned to be careful lest he come to believe his own disbelief in himself. The repeated refrains of twisty Navolese and their bloodthirsty neighbours. His growing understanding in a world where alliances can be the sand of an hourglass is so wonderfully illustrated throughout.

It can be difficult to read at times. Davico often makes gross commentary on characters’ fatness. The violence is harrowing. There are often instances of sexual violence and coercion. None of it is shied from. It is a brutal book. A beast of a book in so many ways. And I loved each and every page of it.

 If Alyssa were this way in the first book I would likely have removed myself from the tour. Her attitude, petulance and lack of regard for both herself, but especially the people around her, is miserable. It’s not that she isn’t still sympathetic. In ways she is. But the moment she bemoaned being bullied in school out of fear of being isolated again after almost manslaughtering her friend I stopped sympathising with her. Those situations are not on par. And stewing in her own self-pity while being angry that her friend is unhappy with her for that is unpleasant to read.

It’s not the only time this happens either. And everyone keeps apologising for hurting her feelings after she causes them physical and psychological harm. There’s more than one accidental almost-killing too. It feels like no one’s feelings but hers matter. Up to and including making fun of a character’s childhood abuse. And Alyssa’s feelings are fickle. Only a few chapters after crying about how she can’t lose anyone else one save yourself plea and she doesn’t even hesitate. There are moments when she’s scolded for her dangerous and childish behaviour. But that doesn’t mean the other characters don’t also snipe, yell, put upon others, and otherwise have contempt for one another. It’s exhausting to read.

But I do want to congratulate Prasad on this. I don’t understand why this is the decision that was made but it was done and done well. Alyssa’s refusal to bother trying to mitigate her problems was so stressful as it drew near its conclusion too.

That isn’t to say that there’s nothing to like. More than the others, The New Enchantress is all-in on its fantasy and adventure elements from the first page. And these I still consider the series’ best strengths. The villains are full of machinations and I liked rooting against them. While only one of them is given a perspective, there are other characters whose perspectives we get to follow along with. We’re right there for the action. There’s no point where it felt like the story was happening off-page.

What I enjoyed best was the compounding of threats. The farther we got the more, and the quicker, they came. It built and built and built until it became a point of fascination to see what could happen next. The higher stakes and darker narrative set it nicely apart from the first two books too. It should be interesting to see how that plays out given the set ups for further books. 

Despite his deeds, I can’t help but love Errol. While I love a villain you can unabashedly cheer against he’s a sympathetic character and I immensely appreciate that we get chapters from him. His desperation and the fear he feels are so well drawn. He’s by far some of the best character work in the series yet. But he isn’t the only improvement in that regard. Alyssa and her godfather, Alex, have some lovely moments together. This is likely because as a sequel it doesn’t need to dedicate as much time to setting up the world but it’s great to see nonetheless. 

I do miss her friends from the first book though. She has new friends now and I did come to like them. I was a little disappointed by the lack of the girls from the first book but ultimately it’s for the best. 

The premise is interesting. Alyssa is much more involved in the plot this time around, and actively making decisions. And I do not understand them. Not only hers either. We’ve known for so long that magic should be kept secret despite all of the blabbing she did. It’s worse than ever here. Her godfather forces her to admit magic in front of his partygoers. But she herself is so blasé about telling everyone and risks endangering the people around her happily. There are not-infrequent mentions of the magic police and given all the spying on people that goes on in these books I’m genuinely surprised that she hasn’t been thrown in jail yet because it’s so brazen from so early on. There’s still so much talk of bureaucracy that it feels like the world building can’t really be trusted. 

A Curse of Mayhem leans much more into the mundane here. There’s no great adventure section and I do think it’s the stronger for it. This isn’t that kind of book but it frustrating then that it waffles between its own stakes. I get why Alyssa was torn between caution and spending time with her friends but for her godfather to put his foot down because of her inability to control her powers, and once she loses control again – proving his fears true – suddenly caves and let her do what she wants…. 

I’ll fully admit that I’m too chronically ill to take the justifications and choices of its characters seriously. The reckless endangerment of her classmates and her forced attendance just seem contrived to me. But I do know that attendance to the detriment of children is something that people will do. I just couldn’t take it seriously. 

As an exploration of growth through a fantasy concept, I think this book is good. It’s much more focused on what it wants to say and happen than the first – much as I liked the wildness of its magic’s permutations. The emotions of its characters really shine in places and make it a stronger and better book overall. Not only that but the prose flows much more naturalistically and some characters I could differentiate purely by the way they spoke. It wrapped up pretty neatly so I am intrigued by there being a third book at all but I look forward to it. 

Thanks to iReadBookTours and Sunayna Prasad. I leave this review voluntarily.