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challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. That the prison wasn’t the place, but the perspective.
I... definitely have a lot of complicted feelings about this one.
The beginning of the book hit me really hard. I'm sadly not a stranger to depression or suicidal ideation, and Nora's experience on that day that almost became the last one was frighteningly relatable. I actually had to put the book aside for a couple of days after getting through that first part, because I was afraid to get triggered into a bad mental state at this rate.
Once the actual story with the library and the endless do-overs started, though, I began to gradually lose my connection to the story. I do understand and admire the overall concept. I've certainly wondered about what-ifs a lot in my own life, spent a lot of time trying to imagine where and who I would be if I just did one thing differently years ago. And the concept of exploring those what-ifs until you find something that re-fuels your will to live is interesting, in theory.
In practice, something in the way it was handled here rubbed me the wrong way. I don't think it's the book's fault; I think it's just a certain difference of... perception? Values? Between me and the author, and that's okay.
The book is definitely thoughtful, poignant, and incredibly well-written. Even though with all the skips between lifetimes and possibilities things are bound to get a bit confusing now and then, the author does a great job focusing the spotlight on all the right things. It just wasn't exactly the book for me, I think.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
There’s no guide for this. I mean—there are guides, and we’re trying to read them. But they don’t make sense. Nothing makes sense because this doesn’t make sense.
In all honesty, I find it hard to talk about this book, because it's always hard for me to talk about grief. And grief is what this entire story is centered on: the pain and numbness of losing someone, sorting through the mess they left behind in an attempt to force things into making sense, picking up the pieces of yourself every morning only to find yourself falling apart again. And then there are all these other people grieving around you, too, in their own ways that you can't comprehend; and there are others who are moving on with their lives, and that's something you can comprehend even less. Worst of all, the problems that were there before grief came in still remain, too; still demand sorting out. Life as you knew it is over; life in general has the audacity to go on.
I'm of the opinion that grief is one of the most confusing, incomprehensible, messed-up feelings a human can experience, and this book really nails it. It does a great job showing the rocky journey toward feeling ready to heal.
There were some minor flaws/nitpicks here when it came to writing and characterization that took me out of the story a little; the same things that I struggled a bit when I read the author's first novel. Some of the dialogue doesn't quite feel natural, some sentences get repetitive, that kind of stuff. However, these things didn't really take away from the sheer power of the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Transphobia
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Rees had felt restless and discontent, so he’d agreed to leave the Elysian Fields, to venture out into the human world and find Eros. In reality, he’d been looking for himself.
This book took some time to grow on me. Initially, I didn't completely buy into this interpretation of Greek gods and myths. However, as I read on, I found myself caught up in the romance and the events around it and grew to appreciate this interpretation as a pretty fun AU (to use fandom terms). It's an overall compelling romance with a focus on second chances, letting go of painful pasts, and healing. Not something I'd call a favorite, but definitely a good read to get lost in for a few hours!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Violence, Murder
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Fab asked, hauling Likotsi to her feet.
Likotsi slipped and slid a bit, but then threw her other arm around Fab’s waist and finally got her footing.
“No. But I’ve found that sometimes bad ideas are a lot more fulfilling.”
Two different people who have recced this novella to me have assured me that I don't need to be acquainted with the rest of the series to enjoy it. Having read it, I'm not sure that's exactly true. While the romance is clearly self-contained and both of the leads are fully realized characters with relatable personalities and struggles, I feel I would have appreciated a better understanding of the context. In particular, the fictional country Likotsi comes from. So I really want to check out the rest of the series now!
All in all, this was a really enjoyable quick read and a good take on the second chance romance trope. I really liked both characters, and the way their relationship played out. The reasons why it didn't work out the first time around were clear, and it made their journey of getting back together to give it another shot really emotional. I also loved the author's use of dual timelines to tell this story.
Silk & Steel: A Queer Speculative Adventure Anthology
Claire Bartlett, Elizabeth Davis, Jennifer Mace, Alison Tam, Django Wexler, Cara Patterson, Chris Wolfgang, Ann LeBlanc, Ellen Kushner, K.A. Doore, Neon Yang, Aliette de Bodard, Yoon Ha Lee, S.K. Terentiev, Freya Marske
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book has been on my TBR since it was in the open submission call stage, and I'm so happy to finally get my hands on it. It's full of some absolutely delightful short stories in a variety of genres, most leaning toward fantasy, but with all sorts of twists and approaches. It's amazing how many different things can be done with the same core trope.
My favorite story was one close to the beginning, the one about the trans princess and her trans shieldmaiden ( Princess, Shieldmaiden, Witch, and Wolf by Neon Yang). It had a beautiful fairytale vibe to it. Others I found particularly memorable were Positively Medieval by Kaitlyn Zivanovich (a troll coming to study law among humans as the damsel in a bit of distress, a bike courier trying to survive the gig economy as her knight, plenty of humorous moments), Danger Noodle by S. K. Terentiev (the story of a lovely couple of insurance investigators in an urban fantasy verse with no masquerade), and Chicago Iron by Chris Wolfgan (urban fantasy again, a compelling take on Prohibition era with awesome characters). But really, those are just the ones that stuck with me the most. The entire anthology is full of other beautiful tales with scarcely a weak spot.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“I dare say domesticity is mocked in sophisticated company, but in truth, I don’t care. It has been the two of us for a long time. Marianne deserves everything London has to give her, and she will have it if I have anything to say to the matter.”
His hazel eyes were different when he said that. Alive, but not smiling, not smiling in the least. Hart watched him as he looked down at his cards again, and thought, So that’s what you look like when you’re telling the truth.
Such a delightful read! I always love me a good enemies-to-lovers tale, and this was such a wonderful rendition of the trope. I loved the way the relationship between Hart and Robin developed, how suspicion and wariness gradually gave way to raw honesty and attraction grew into something more. I enjoyed reading about them talking through their misunderstandings, and that oftentimes, it took more than one conversation to get to the truth of the matter.
My favorite part, perhaps, was how the author never shied away from discussing the realities of the time period, the hard question of privilege and class. Instead, those subjects became the heart of the novel's central conflicts and were heavily discussed from several angles during all the major beats. Somehow, it made the happy ending the leads eventually carved for themselves and those around them even more important and smile-inducing.
Even though this is a m/m romance, there was a number of wonderful, varied, fully realized female characters constantly present on the page. They were all as interesting and as important to the plot as the leads, and I was happy to see them get their respective happy endings.
All in all, this was a lovely book to spend a cozy rainy afternoon with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content
Normally, I love dark academia novels, but this one just wasn't clicking with me. And given that I've already slogged through a few not-really-enjoyable reads lately and there's my huge TBR pile towering over me... I've decided there's no reason to slog through this one.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Can you not understand that the walls between us are not of my making? That I do not want to be behind them? Can you not look at me and see not the Radiancy but the man?
I've heard a lot about this book from a number of people whose tastes I often share. From their descriptions, it sounded like something I genuinely couldn't wait to read. I mean, a lengthy slice-of-life story with politics and a pronounced focus on character arcs? Sounds like a dream! I pictured something like The Healers' Road by S.E. Robertson, which happens to be one of my favorite books of all times. It doesn't have much in the way of the plot—it's literally all about two healers traveling with a caravan and getting to know themselves and each other better—but it's one of the most riveting and engaging reads I've ever encountered. So with The Hands of the Emperor, from all the descriptions, I was expecting more of the same, except bigger, and with older characters, and with court intrigue.
What I got instead was... frankly, a slog.
It's not that the book didn't keep the promise, so to speak—everything I expected to find was there. But the shape it took, or rather the complete lack of shape, made it incredibly difficult to enjoy. To use The Healers' Road as a comparison again: that book, while being undeniably slice-of-life and lacking the usual conflict-ridden understanding of a plot, is still very much book-shaped. The narrative causality is still there; despite the absence of some big overarching external plot arc, the character arcs hit all the necessary beats right on time, providing the ebb and flow of tension.
The Hands of the Emperor, on the other, uh, hand, doesn't provide that. The story is all over the place. There are all those wonderful, lovable characters with their complicated personalities and histories; there's a rich, vivid world to explore; there's the political landscape providing a picture that is both utopia-like in some ways and sinister in others; there's the overall vibe of making the world a better place with lots of well-thought-out competence porn. And all of these wonderful ingredients so often get smeared across the page instead of getting woven together into a... well. Into a story.
Reading this book felt a lot like looking through someone's strangely polished first draft, or perhaps a draft zero, or even just a collection of snippets and creative notes and writing exercises that for many writers may preface the actual first draft of a book; the ones not meant for anyone's eyes but the author's. The worldbuilding sometimes got presented very eloquently, through specific situations or culture clashes; other times it was laid out in conversations bordering on "As you know, Bob"; other times still, incidents happened that clearly were meant to convey a lot about the setting, except full understanding also relied on having some other bits of information about it that haven't yet been shared. The pacing didn't know what to do with itself: there were lengthy sections where all the minutiae of the characters' days was described in detail, and then there were big time skips that didn't feel entirely justified.
All of this isn't to say that the book is badly written; the problem for me, perhaps, is that many parts of it are written really, really well. There are scenes and exchanges that are so poignant and beautiful. There are quotes that will stick with me. There are so many cool and wonderful ideas explored on these numerous pages. But all those beautiful moments that could have been the real gems, the parts that turn the story around, that make the story worth telling—they just get lost in the shapeless body of this book.
Maybe it's not the book. Maybe it's me. I know a lot of people seem to love it exactly for this lack of narrative shape, among other things. For me, it turned out into something that I would have perhaps enjoyed if I had, before reading, known and loved the characters already. Something to expend on their stories, to showcase what they were before and outside the eventual narrative. But as a complete book, an introduction to this world and these characters, The Hands of the Emperor simply doesn't work for me—and it's a shame, because the world, and the characters, and the author's writing are all so good. All the themes it works with are ones that always touch me deeply, like the topic of power, and the choice between duty and self, destiny and humanity, like family and friendship.
It's just the way the book/story is constructed that, sadly, makes all of these beautiful ingredients so hard for me to enjoy.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I... honestly have no idea what my impression of this book even is. On one hand, it was a reasonably quick and mostly enjoyable read for me, mostly because there wasn't a single character who wasn't interesting to follow. On the other hand, there was just too much going on, which paradoxically led to a distinct feeling of "not enough." With the story constantly jumping between viewpoints, and big events, and various aspects of the setting, every individual storyline remained underexplored. Things kind of got tied together, somewhat, toward the end, but it still felt a lot like I was reading a bunch of different books at once.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Drug use, Transphobia, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Rape, Medical trauma
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I might be easy to manipulate. But I am very difficult to break.
I was a bit appherensive when I picked up this book. On one hand, it sounded like very much my cup of tea: I love arranged marriage romances with a lot of politics. On the other hand, I kept seeing it mentioned alongside Bonds of Brass, a book that also look great, then gave me a lot of strong and pretty negative feelings. So I was fully prepared to get disappointed again.
Fortunately, I didn't have to. This book isn't without its flaws; I really feel that all the worldbuilding and politicking could have been handled better, because it's such an integral part of the story and there is so much cool stuff here, but the way all of it was laid out was somewhat confusing and uneven. The first 1/4 book or so felt a bit like reading a fanfic for a canon I'm not familiar with, but without a fanwiki or a fannish friend to help me fill in the blanks. Once I got a better understanding of how the society and the politics and everything else here functioned, though, my enjoyment upped considerably.
The main thing I loved about the book was the romance and the characters involved in it. Like I said, I'm a sucker for arranged marriage romance, and this one had it all: the slow burn, the misunderstandings, having to work together for a common goal, the "WHY CAN'T THEY JUST TALK IN WORDS?.. Oh, right, this is why, really valid reasons here, BUT PLEASE, PLEASE just talk already," the awesome moments when they do finally talk. And there was that awesome part late in the book with the memories. You probably know which part is if you've read this. It hurt, and then it ended with making me smile with hope, and then shit got real, and then they got their happy ending, and— I'm very articulate, I know. I just really loved that part of the journey.
I also really loved Kiem, basically from the first moment I saw him on the page. Seriously, all it took was that first scene with him and the Emperor, and I knew that no matter how the book turned out, I would keep reading till the end just to root for him. Weirdly, Jainan took time to grow on more; I say "weirdly," because he is the type of character I normally fall for. Seriously, give me a character running on pure duty and hiding his cracks and his strengths alike behind a perfect facade of politeness, and then try to pry them out of my cold dead hand. Something about Jainan made it a slow burn on my part, too, though. However, by mid-book, I was all over him.
All in all, this was an enjoyable, quick read, and I wouldn't mind visiting this universe again.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse