Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

The cover drew me in and three things convinced me to read this book:

1) I love the author's Universe of Xuya;
2) It is a Subterranean Press book and they do great work; and
3) Do I need another reason? . . .

I was introduced to the Universe of Xuya with Subterranean's edition of the tea master and the detective.  The author’s excellent page discussing this world says that:

The premise of Xuya is that China discovered the Americas before the West, and that the exploration of this new continent prevented China from sinking inwards (not to mention being invaded by the Manchu, who later founded the ill-fated Qing dynasty, China’s last imperial dynasty). Xuya (旴 涯), a Chinese colony founded in the 15th Century in North America, plays a central role in the stories.

I have a soft spot for ships of any kind (Arrr!) and this world has mindships.  They are awesome.  In this new story, the mindship is The Wild Orchid in Sunless Woods who pays a visit to Vân, a human, to discuss the inner politics of their poetry club.  But soon there are bigger problems when a person suddenly drops dead in Vân's household.  From the outside it looks like murder.  From the inside it is the part of a bigger mystery.

Like other Xuya stories, the dead body problem is not the focus of the story.  The murder drives the character interactions and growth.  The point is very much the inter-character dynamics between the AI ship and the human.  There is also a strong look at past secrets and choices of each character and how those issues affect their relationship.

Some of the plot points of this story were not what I was expecting but for the better.  I have to admit that I find meself more and more driven to read all the Xuya tales.  I am very glad to have read this one.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Subterranean Press!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I was introduced to the Universe of Xuya in her novella the tea master and the detective.  I adored the sentient spaceship and avidly wanted more.  So I was super happy to get this story.  The biggest problem is that the majority of this series are short stories and not all are easily accessible (give us an omnibus please!).  The author's excellent page discussing this world says that:

The premise of Xuya is that China discovered the Americas before the West, and that the exploration of this new continent prevented China from sinking inwards (not to mention being invaded by the Manchu, who later founded the ill-fated Qing dynasty, China’s last imperial dynasty). Xuya (旴 涯), a Chinese colony founded in the 15th Century in North America, plays a central role in the stories.

The site also gives a chronology, background, and links to the Xuya short stories available online.

This tells the stories of two women.  The Empire is at war and a magistrate, Lê Thi Linh, spoke against the Emperor.  She flees as a refugee to her ancestral station.  This station has a sentient Mind.  Lê Thi Quyen is the human administrator who helps maintain the station.  Familial ties bind the two women but neither likes the other.  It would be a bad relationship under normal situations but the Mind seems to be failing even though that should be impossible.  With the station about to self-destruct, the family dynamics aren't helping.

This book had a tiny bit of a rough start for me because the tone was so different from what I was expecting.  The tea master was intimate in feel.  This one was like I was watching from afar.  Plus the narrative jumps back and forth between characters and it was slightly hard to adjust.  That said, those are minor issues and I still avidly wanted to know what was going on.

I didn't really like either of the two women because they both are obstinate to the detriment of everyone.  They were still fun characters even if they are knuckleheads.  I adored the world building and politics.  There are other familial issues besides the antagonistic relationship of the two main characters.  I found the life of the family and their relationships to be fascinating.

The ending was absolutely stunning in how it tied everything together and packed an emotional punch.  This wasn't quite a perfect read because of the start but damn did I enjoy it.  I can see why it was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus in 2013.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  This be the sixth book I have read by the author and me sixth five star read.  Dang does she float me boat!  I have said before that what I find amazing about all of the author's books is that they feel so different from each other.  The first was a vampire story with stunning vampire culture and history.  The second was a Mayan fairy-tale set during the Jazz age in Mexico.  The third was a romance with a hint of fantasy set in the Belle Époque era.  The fourth was a coming-of-age thriller set in Baja California in 1979.  The fifth was a gothic horror set in 1950s Mexico.

This was a novella set in Mexico City in a near-future.  Amelia is 25 and her dream of getting to Mars is a strong as ever even if her once bright future has grounded to a halt.  Life has become so bleak and Amelia is eking out her existence with odd jobs.  One of those jobs is as a rent-a-friend.  She isn't popular and one of her few regular "friend" jobs is with an aging movie star watching the woman's old films.  How these films relate to the larger themes are lovely.

The real allure in this story is the starkness of Amelia's life and the pain of the environment that Amelia lives in.  It just feels so real and gritty.  Her desperation for another life combined with watching her slowly shrivel up with each bad break is heart-wrenching.  One can't help but completely understand Mona's bitterness and anger while still wishing for her to not give up and fight for herself.  The ending was bittersweet and yet I still hope it all turns out okay.  A beautifully painful and touching book that I do very much recommend.

I absolutely love Silvia Moreno-Garcia and can't wait for whatever she writes next.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  It be Sci-Fi- Month!!  This be a book two.  While I try to post no spoilers, if ye haven’t read the first book in this series, the girl who could move sh*t with her mind, then ye might want to skip this.  If ye keep reading this log then ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .

The first book in the series was super fun and I was so looking forward to getting me hands on the next installment of Teagan Frost's adventures.  While book one was a popcorn book of awesome, this book had some problems that made it really feel like a middle book that just exists to only set up the final showdown.  I am conflicted because the plot really pissed me off at times and yet I still want to read the next book!

I still love Teagan and her crazy, snarky self despite her incredibly selfish choices in this.  While the first book stretched  believability, this story didn't really have any.  The four year old baddy doesn't think about consequences ever even though he is a genius.  Teagan makes ridiculous choices that a) go directly against saving the world, and b) should have killed her.  The actual plot of the book really fell flat for me.  And the ending twist was actually dissatisfying.  I am not sure what I wanted book two to be but it wasn't this.  According to the First Mate I was yelling out loud about character choices and author plot choices as I read.  But I still want to read book three.  Go figure.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I continue the foray into this author's works and am so loving it.  I actually loved this fantasy horror novel even better than the hollow places.  Like that book, this one is inspired by prior works in the genre.  Like that read, I didn't read the original before tackling this one.  I be okay with that.

This book follows Mouse, who has to go to rural North Carolina to clean out her now deceased grandmother's house.  It gets worse when she finds out that her mean grandmother was a hoarder.  It gets even worse when Mouse realizes that the evil may not have been limited to her grandmother but may have overtaken the house too.

Like other works by Kingfisher, there is a nice blend of humor and horror.  I loved Mouse.  I loved her silly dog Bongo.  I loved the hippy neighbors.  I did find this story to be creepy and unsettling.  It wasn't scary but I do not usually find books to be so.  I enjoy suspense and this one worked well.  I loved the use of the grandmother's evil in the story and thought it was clever.

I found the diary parts to be the least favorite but the author's note at the end made me respect those choices more.  I also enjoy that the events of the books have consequences for Mouse even once her adventures are over.  It kinds makes me crazy when characters go through weird things and then live happily ever after.  I don't think I would have survived Mouse's trials and tribulations but anyone should be scarred after what she went through.

An excellent book that I recommend.  I need to get a hold of all the other books on the author's backlist.  Arrrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  If ye haven’t read the first book in this series, nevermoor, then ye might want to skip this post and go read the first book.  Worth the read.  If ye keep reading this log then ye have been forewarned and continue at yer own peril . . .

The first book was excellent and the second book even better.  I was excited to read this one.  And then it was just okay and the more I think about it the sadder I get.  Ye see the first two books were full of action and insight into the world.  In this book Morrigan didn't really do much.  There was too much focus on the past memories in the school and the hollowpox sections felt like nothing really happened either.  Lots of discussion for little benefit.  Telling not showing.  I feel like this book could be completely tossed out and not much would be different.  The plot was messy, the cause and cure for the hollowpox was a bit nonsensical, and I am bit confused as to how the ending of the book is going to move forward for the next book.  Will I be reading the next one?  Aye, mateys.  But I will likely never reread this one.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I was in a mood where I wasn't sure what I wanted to read.  Then I read Matey Nicky's review of this book where she said:

I have to admit that, primed by Untitled Goose Game, I was on Saracen’s side in all of this. In any given scene, at any given stopping point, my main concern was where is Saracen???  (People who watched me live-tweeting my binge of this book can attest to that. Several tweets demanding to know where the goose was.)  Part of the reason I was on Saracen’s side is that things get a bit twisty. Who do you trust? By the last hundred pages, I only trusted Saracen.

I have enjoyed this author's work in the past and the goose was the right incentive to immediately pick up this debut work of hers.  I loved it.

This book is twisty and just so much fun.  It immediately captured me attention with the prologue where there is a discussion on what to name the new baby.  She was born on the name day of Goodman Palpitattle also known as  “He Who Keeps Flies out of Jams and Butter Churns.”  The midwife , Celery, is clearly concerned about the timing of her birth and the importance of names given her own.  But she is overruled and the baby gets named after the housefly - Mosca.

Like always, the world building is just exquisite.  The plot follows poor Mosca as she tries to escape her horrible hamlet and just gets into more and more trouble.  Her problem?  She can read and reading is dangerous.  Whether it is the names of the gods or the lovely descriptions of the world or Mosca's opinions about what she sees, the word play in this book was delightful.  Like Eponymous Clem, the stranger that Mosca gets involved with.  Or this description of a path:

The path was a troublesome, fretful thing. It worried that it was missing a view of the opposite hills and insisted on climbing for a better look. Then it found the breeze uncommonly chill and ducked back among the trees. It suddenly thought it had forgotten something and doubled back, then realized that it hadn’t and turned about again. At last it struggled free of the pines, plumped itself down by the riverside, complained of its aching stones and refused to go any farther. A sensible, well-trodden track took over.

Just lovely.  The plot is a bit convoluted at times but I didn't care because I loved the world and the characters.  I anxiously needed to know what happened next (and where the goose was!).  This book could be read as a standalone but the author did write a sequel six years later.  I am certainly going to be picking up a copy.  Arrr!

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

The cover drew me in and three things convinced me to read this book:

1. There is a dragon on this cover and the book has a great title;
2. It is a Subterranean Press book and they do great work; and
3. I enjoy unusual fairy tales.

I liked the beginning of this book and other parts of it but did not love it overall.  When I requested this, I didn't recognize the author's name.  Turns out she wrote gideon the ninth.  I abandoned that book and disliked it enough that I did not review it anywhere because me opinion was so far out of the norm and I really didn't feel like taking time to explain why it irks and infuriates me.  So had I realized who the author was, I likely wouldn't have requested this book.

I really, really did enjoy the set-up for this one.  Floralinda is a weird princess in a weird tower.  I loved that the princes gave up on rescuing her and she is stuck there.  I loved the weird mean fairy.  I even loved how Floralinda dealt with floors 39 and 38 even though the plot moved slowly.  After these floors, the plot stalled and I began to get bored.  The humor from the beginning didn't change and grew stale.  The metatextual aspects became tiresome.  Once Florinda began descending floors again, the author sped through them in a blur.  I wanted to know about the floors that were just described by monster name and passed by.  And the climax and conclusion were basically nonsensical and rushed.  The very last line made me mad.  I don't like the commentary on how Floralinda's journey changed her.  It was too negative.  And I usually like negative.

This author and her style are not for me though I am very grateful to have received a review copy.  Arrrr! 

So lastly . . .

Thank you Subterranean Press!

Ahoy me mateys! Grab your grog! Here be book 1 of the 10th installment of the 3 Bells trilogy showcase where for 3 days straight I will be reviewing 3 books in a row. The catch is that the 3 books will showcase an entire trilogy. So throw your 3 sheets to the wind and get ready to celebrate with me. Grog optional . . .

So have ye been hearing rumors of the ship Trouble Dog and her awesomeness? I sure have and thought it be time to track her down and hear her tale. Turns out it definitely be a yarn worth seeking.

Trouble Dog is not just any ship. She be a former warship who resigned her commission to join the House of Reclamation as a penance for her war crimes. The House is dedicated to the grand ideal of rescuing ships in distress across the universe regardless of their origin or race. Trouble Dog tries to save lives to make a small tally against those she has harmed. But rescues start going poorly and the ship and her crew are pulled into a conflict they want no part of.

Of course me salty heart belongs to Trouble Dog. She rocks and by far was the best yarn-spinner of the bunch. I could listen to her all night. Her Captain, Sal, be a decent sort as well. Her insights into the trials and tribulations were much needed intelligence. They have a rough time of it. We didn’t get nearly enough time with Clay who seems to be me type of gal. Nod the “alien” has a weird perspective but he grew on me. The other misfits that Trouble Dog has to allow on board weren’t always to me taste. To be honest I don’t know if I would want any of them on me crew. But Trouble Dog can do as she must.

I only got the first part of the story but it was full of adventure and daring-do. I have to admit that I have a hankering about what happens next. Stay tuned for book two tomorrow. Arrr!

Ahoy me mateys! Grab your grog! Here be book 2 of the 10th installment of the 3 Bells trilogy showcase where for 3 days straight I will be reviewing 3 books in a row. The catch is that the 3 books will showcase an entire trilogy. So throw your 3 sheets to the wind and get ready to celebrate with me. Grog optional . . .

So yesterday I told ye about how much fun I had meeting the ship Trouble Dog. I was very interested in hearing where her travels took her next. I certainly loved hearing more about Sal and crew. Ona Sudak is still a jerk. I have to admit that I feel her motivations to be less than interesting. Stupid in fact.

What was interesting was learning about the alien generation ship and the greater threat to the universe. Think ye know about how scary parasites can be? Think again. And they are the lesser problem. Sal and Trouble Dog are again trying to rescue others and get into more than they bargain for.

This second tale of adventure was not nearly as good as the first. Solid. I think part of it was that I didn’t love the new characters like I adore Trouble Dog’s bunch. This middle yarn really did feel like second book that set up for the grand finale. The ending however was excellent and bumped up the enjoyment a bit.

Stay tuned for the final book tomorrow. Arrr!