thebacklistborrower's Reviews (570)

I bought this book for the cover -- I’ve learned that I love anything that’s given  a @HouseofAnansi ‘A List’ reprint. So between that and the captivating synopsis, I knew I needed to read this book.

The book is written in a poetic, train-of-thought style and mostly is from the perspective of Annie, a contemporary woman who, after seeing reference in an archive to a woman known only as “Mrs. Richards”, sets about to discover the rest of her history. Who was Mrs. Richards? What was her first name? Where did she come from? Where did she end up? While doing research to uncover the answers to these questions, Annie learns more about herself, her own past, and what she wants out of her life.

It was only last year that a local paper did a profile on Barbara Ann Robertson, a founding president of the Nelson Library Association. The article noted that “always referred to only as Mrs. J. Roderick Robertson, her given names were only recently discovered.” This blew me away. That Mr. Robertson could take all the credit for his wife building my local library a hundred years ago, and have the woman behind it obscured. How many other women faced the same fate? Or worse -- not remembered at all? It was with this in mind I devoured Ana Historic. 

The book plays with history, fiction, and memoir. The lines between the actual history Annie is uncovering, reflections of her relationship with her mother, her husband, and her children, and the fiction she crafts for Mrs. Richards to fill in the blanks are blurred, switching in the middle of some paragraphs, entwining Annie and Ana Richards, and their fates.

Having just read “Women and other Monsters” by @j_zimms, a book of essays asking women to embrace their monstrousness, I loved the cosmic coincidence that in this book there was also a lot of comparisons between women and monsters, “there is a monster, there is something monstrous here, but its not you.”

This was a beautiful work of Canadian feminist ficion. It is a short read, but a beautiful, engaging one, and will be one of my favourites of the year. 

I eagerly awaited reading this novel as soon as I heard that the author had got signed to write it. Her original essays were available online, and the essay on the Furies, published on Catapult.co was one of the first pieces I reviewed on this page, so now reviewing the book feels like coming full circle.

Each essay in this book draws us to contemplate the various female monsters of antiquity-- the sphinx, the furies, the sirens, scylla, the harpies, and more-- and ask whether they were actually monsters or just exhibiting behaviours that men don’t like seeing in women. For example, the essay on the Furies examines their anger and rage. Was it monstrous in and of itself, or simply just unattractive in women to show so much anger? 

Jess draws upon her own experiences as a woman in the modern world, and one who does not meet the many, many, many ideals placed upon women of all ages. Her experiences, along with anecdotes from others, research, and assorted interpretations of ancient stories build out each essay into something that many women will be able to sympathize and connect with. 

In a preamble to the book, Jess makes note of the use of the “we” in essays to mean any cis or trans woman, or any other people who may present as a woman. And if one “we” does not connect to you, hopefully another will. I appreciated this note, as somebody who has always had thin privilege, and generally met many of the markers of conventional attractiveness, I did not have first-hand experience with some of her anecdotes. But that does not mean the essays were lost on me either. I could always find my own story to reflect on.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent book! I fell in love with the concept the first time I read her essays four years ago, and it was executed perfectly in this book. I can see myself revisiting the book as a whole, or individual essays, in the future as my own life changes and I need that assurance that a little monstrousness isn’t so bad sometimes.

Spoiler alerts: there may be spoilers for the other books

of the series as well as Soulstar.

This book has a different perspective from either Witchmark or Stormsong, and a very interesting one. Where the other two books are from the perspectives of Miles and Grace, two privileged people, Soulstar is from the perspective of Robin, a friend of Miles. She was key in the fight to release witches imprisoned in asylums, but also an activist for the elimination of the monarchy to make way for a true democracy.

With the release of the witches granted by the king, Robin is reunited after 20 years with her spouse, Zelind. While they struggle to rebuild space for each other in their lives, they work together to find a permanent home for the freed witches, while also trying to solve the murder of a prominent pro-democracy politician, and run a shadow election.

And honestly that feels like just a fraction of what is in this book. While the first two books had a similar cast of characters and conflicts, this book is very different because Robin is not a society elite, nor in the Amaranthine royal party. She is a regular, common woman. In this book we got a much more detail about the lives of the broader public of Aeland and as a result we have a much more well-rounded view with a richer, deeper understanding of the world and its players.

I think the storylines and world building in Soulstar was a wonderful conclusion to the books. The relationship between Zelind, Robins' spouse who uses khe/kher pronouns, was so heartfelt and challenged, but felt so human too.

I enjoyed this book -- and the rest of the series -- so much I bought them before even finishing reading them, and am already excited for a reread. I loved the characters, I loved the stories. If you're looking for a fantasy series challenging social justice issues, very diverse characters, and a fair share of romance (closed-door), please pick up these books!

Stormsong is the sequel to Witchmark, the gaslamp fantasy I fell in love with a few months ago. When I realized only the first audiobook was on Libby, I asked my library if they could get the others, and they did! Thank you @nelson.public.library! Although tbh, I was disappointed that instead of Miles, Stormsong follows his sister Grace through the aftermath of Witchmark (with a new narrator too). But overall, Iloved this book.

Stormsong follows Grace Hensley as she deals politically and personally with the fallout from the events of Witchmark. The aether network is down in the middle of winter, massive storms are battering the country, fae-like Amaranthines are demanding retribution for the wrongs of the country, and Grace is struggling to maintain her hold on political power through it all. Teaming up with firebrand Avia, they seek to find peace and head off the beginnings of a working-class revolution.

Initially, Grace drove me crazy. She is exceptionally privileged, and her personality definitely rubbed me the wrong way. Fortunately, she has a good character arc and I did come around to her eventually. In contrast, I was IN LOVE with Grace’s love interest Avia Jessup. Avia estranged herself from her wealthy family to escape social pressure and become a journalist. The whole time she reminded me of Asami from Legend of Korra - they both have bad-ass, go-your-own-way vibes. 

While Grace’s privilege made her insufferable, I liked learning about Aeland from a new perspective. After all, Grace is a woman at the height of power in the country. She is the royal representative in the elected lower house, economically affluent, a royal knight, and the strongest mage of her generation. It certainly gives you new information and enriches the worldbuilding started in Witchmark. Grace is moderated by, and learns from, Avia, who had to learn to make her own way after estranging herself from her family, but by and large this book is in the rich halls of political power and grand mansions. 

 “Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.” I love time travel stories so this synopsis was an excellent hook for me. I hardly knew what I was getting into when I started reading though. Starting out as a battle of wits, a game of covert communication and hyper-sensory eye spy, this book turns into one of the most compelling and interesting love stories I’ve read. This book is only 208 pages long, but each scene and each letter is packed with feeling and tone, building our relationship with Red and Blue quickly and fiercely. 

This is How You Lose the Time War is about Red and Blue enemies in a war of time. Red works for the Agency, a techno-utopia organization, and Blue works for the Garden, an organic-futurist. These agencies send agents back through time to shift the direction of the future in minute increments towards a future where their organization is the true one. With lots of language about the impacts of changing the past, travelling up and down through time, of different realities, I was in love with this concept. If you are a Doctor Who fan like I am (or at least of the Eccleston-Tennant-Smith incarnations like me), you will like this book and how this concept is carried out.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the slow development from a catty game with Red and Blue challenging and teasing each other into expressions of care was at once exhilarating and  heart-swelling. I couldn’t stand to stop reading once that started, and it became a true Romeo and Juliet story. Picking up on the references to our own day and age, and history, was also enjoyable - a puzzle for the reader to discern, and to what extent.

Overall, this book was fantastic. I loved the concept, I loved the writing, and I loved the story. The book is light on the actual science of what they do, so don’t be deterred if you’re not a usual sci-fi fan. This book is just so much fun to read, and I think anybody would like it.

 Another {fire} book from Evan Winter! This is the second in the series The Burning, and what a series! Winter originally self-published Rage of Dragons, before it was picked up by @Orbit_US. Initially only intended to be a trilogy, this series will actually have four books, with the next coming out early 2022. 

I can see why an extra book is needed. I think Fires of Vengeance, 400 pages long, only truly covered a couple weeks. The country is at civil war, they are losing their position in the two-century war against the indigenous people, and a third enemy lurks in their fears. Tau, our hero from Rage of Dragons, has been made Champion to Queen Tsiora, fighting for her with his trusted sword-brothers against rebels who would have her sister hold the throne. 

While only covering a couple weeks, too much is in this book to truly summarize. From the first page to the very, very last, action is non-stop. Nobody -- Tau and his sword-brothers, Tsiora, her advisers and allies, or the reader -- get any rest through this read. Like Rage of Dragons, the action is non-stop, but like the first book of this series, it is so well written. Winter masterfully crafts each fight scene so the words disappear from the page and all you see are Tau’s twin dragon scale sword blades against his opponent’s bronze.

Also, continuing from the first book, the “big bad” isn’t so much a “pure evil” character like Sauron or the Wheel of Time Forsaken, but instead classism, racism, and colonialism, and this rhetoric persists through this book. Because so little time passes, I found there wasn’t enough time to really develop the ideas further, but I didn’t think that was really an issue.

If you liked Rage of Dragons be sure to continue on with Fires of Vengeance! And if you’re a fan of action fantasy, be sure to check The Burning out. You won’t regret it!

 

 I remember reading this book and *loving* the concept as a kid. Being one of those introverted nerdy kids without a lot of friends (if any, depending on when I was reading it), the idea of having my soul outside my body as an independent sentience was super attractive. But this book has always been the only book in the series I could get through. Given it is now a TV series and I kept seeing it come up in bookstagram, I decided to revisit the series by audiobook. 

The book tells the story of Lyra, a young girl in a world very much like our own, but one where people’s souls exist outside their bodies, taking the form of animals. As children, these daemons, as they are called, can switch form, but at the onset of puberty, daemon take one form and no longer switch. Growing up in Jordan college, the niece of a wealthy, but absent benefactor to the college, she becomes embroiled in a mystery, and sets off to the north to rescue her uncle. Along the way she meets rich and dangerous women, friendly but maligned Gyptians, witches, and armoured bears.  

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. It had been long enough since I last read the books that most of it was new to me. I generally knew the direction of the book, but definitely forgot the actual steps of the plot, and was kept on the edge of my seat the whole time. Very unusually for me, I even got choked up at one scene (I do *not* cry at books). Listening also as an adult had me better understand the anti-church rhetoric used throughout the book. Of course, a book about a world where souls were outside the body is intrinsically out-of-line with most religious doctrine, but there is much more than that reading as an adult.

I still haven’t moved on to The Subtle Knife, I guess His Dark Materials isn’t really high on my priorities list. But overall I liked this book, and I’ll get to the next one when I get to it.

 

“Wandering through old buildings is not my idea of a vacation. Sure, there’s history here but most of it revolves around state-sponsored mayhem and gratuitous violence, assassinations, expulsion of ethic groups, court intrigue, occupation by Nazis, Russians, and the International Monetary fund. Blood and money, all reduced to postcards, flags, garnets, posters and beer cosmetics.”

Indians on Vacation is a wry story about a couple on vacation in Prague trying to find a long lost uncle and the medicine bundle he took with him. The two “indians on vacation” are Mimi Bullshield - an outgoing artist, loving and confident in herself (“Blackfoot” she says when assumed to be American) and Blackbird Mavrias, a Cherokee-Greek award-winning photojournalist (“anything with a feather and a drum, I covered”) who is followed around by five demons. Among these demons is his self loathing, called Eugene; Cat, his catastrophizing; the twins Dede and Desi, his depression and despair; and Chip, the chip off his shoulder. 

In Prague, Mimi, Bird, and his demons, visit the sights, get lost in crowds,  and take an impromptu trip to Budapest. Bird struggles with himself, they struggle with their privilege, and as a couple at times. The vacation is mundane in all but its original purpose. While this book has been given awards for humour, it is not a laugh-out-loud romp. This humour is introspective, satirical, and dark at times. But the realistic love and tenderness Bird and Mimi have for each other keeps the darkness at bay.

The second book by King I’ve read this year, I could see the signature of his writing: masterfully interweaving Bird’s and Mimi’s time in Prague with past vacations, their own personal histories, and Bird’s childhood. The book felt like each chapter was woven together, with the picture becoming clearer through to the end.

Definitely give this book by a Canadian icon a read (or listen). It certainly got my wanderlust going (especially since I nearly booked a Prague trip in 2018), but it was all worth it at the end. 

No other book has called me to accept my experience of adulthood like this one. Closest a book has previously come was Generation X by Douglas Coupland, but this really captures the 30-something millennial experience of navigating what I think we are all told is adulthood. And I’ll be pretty honest: I’d hesitate to call myself a “barely functional adult” as I do have a well-paying job I like, a partner, a cat, house, all the markers of a fully functional adulthood (except the kids). But this author has a BOOK, and had (has?) a job at GOOGLE. And that’s why I loved this book. I know a lot of millennials in different places in life, but we all compare ourselves against this arbitrary markerpost of a Boomer adulthood that we’ve been taught to glorify since childhood, and I think that’s why we all feel barely functional.

This book is an anthology of essays, illustrated with the adorable humanoid bubble that Ng became famous for online. The essays, while framed around stories of her own life, are written to be applicable to anybody reading the stories. They are lessons she learned and are now sharing so that we can all learn our own lessons from them. Also, each essay is a perfect length. They aren’t short nor long, but a great length for tucking into here and there, long enough to unwind, but short enough to fit into busy, barely functional adult lives. This is a book you can pick up and put down over and over again.

Whether it was a story about impostor syndrome, making friends as an adult (and introvert), going to therapy, getting a job, or changing jobs, I connected with Meichi’s stories. I found myself laughing, groaning, and staring into space as I wrestled with the understanding that “its not just me???”. 

There’s no reason not to read this book. Whether you are a boomer, Gen X, millennial, or Gen Z, you will find this book funny. The stories are just the right length for readers of all types, and packed with self-aware comedy aimed at the sad little rat race we’ve put ourselves through, and what it means to think we are losing when everybody else is as lost in the maze as we are, even if we are in different places in it. 

 This was an incredibly challenging review to write, as I feel like it is going to be an unpopular opinion. I had a lot of high hopes for this book after seeing it circulate for the past few years, and was pretty excited to get into it when it came up in my book club. But after just *barely* getting it read in the 3 weeks of my library loan, the best I can say is it was an interesting book, but I found it long. 

Circe follows the life of Greek god Helio’s daughter from before the story of Prometheus to the dawn of Rome. Half god, half nymph, and unpopular amongst those in her father’s halls for her look and mortal-sounding voice, she spends much of her immortal youth wandering, passing the endless hours, but one day learns she has a power of transformation. She is exiled to the island Aiaia to live out her lives. There, she learns to hone a witchcraft, and meets many from those heroes of our stories: Odysseus, Hermes, Athena, Daedalus, among others.

Even while being about a woman coming into her power and finding her own strength, interacting with Greek legends, I found a lot of the book empty. I wouldn’t say it was boring, as I didn’t have to make myself read it, but thinking back on the story, only a handful of scenes really come to mind. Of course, part of this story is about Circe’s exile, so that much of the book is her, on her own and with her own thoughts, makes sense. It just didn’t really work for my own preferences. I think if this book appeals to you, or you like retellings, greek stories, and strong women characters, you should still give Circe a go. After all, lots of people love this book!

Miller has another novel about Achilles, and I’m tempted to try that one as his life story has a lot more action in it, but I won’t rush to track it down. Instead, I was inspired to get the audiobook of The Odyssey, recently translated for the first time by a woman. This edition has received a lot of very interesting press for the differences in language used when translated with a feminist lens. Unfortunately it was an Audible exclusive, but I knew I had been holding on to my first free audiobook for a reason.