Tag Archives: scifi/fantasy

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

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I am a big Hunger Game fan so I was really looking forward to yet another prequel. It’s fun to get a glimpse into how Panem got to where it was at the start of the original trilogy, and also when it comes to the evolution of the Games themselves. I was even more excited to get some backstory on Haymitch. He wasn’t a mystery necessarily, but having been a victor in the Games, and be forced for over 20 something years to watch children die, you want to know how he got there. What kept him going? Well, now we kind know. And its even worse than we thought.

SPOILER WARNING: I am assuming that you have read Sunrise on the Reaping of course and I am also assuming that you have read the original trilogy. I am not going to get into specifics about plot, however. You’ve been warned!

I’m not going to get into a recitation of the entire plot, but I will give some info on events in the beginning of the book. This is the story of the 50th Hunger Games- the Second Quarterquell. Twice as many tributes were reaped, so two boys and two girls from each district were forced into the Games. This we already knew from the original trilogy. What was interesting was that Haymitch wasn’t originally reaped. Woodbine Chance should have gone, but he ran, and was gunned down. Haymitch, trying to help his Covey (!) girlfriend Lenore and gets reaped instead. And it’s Haymitch’s birthday! Right from the start, it’s tragedy. From there, things go downhill of course, but a long the way we get a lot of fan service. We see younger versions of some of our favorites, which I won’t spoil, since I think that is part of the little bit of fun we get in this book, but they will be major and minor players in the original trilogy. We also re-visit some characters from A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I appreciated the tie in not only to the original trilogy but also to Ballad. It makes the story feel like one continuous story where we are just dropping in at different times, rather than keeping everything isolated.

On a re-read, I will probably feel like the fan service with old characters was a bit forced, but on my first read through, I was just happy to see familiar characters. And they were not the same people they are in the original trilogy, and you do get to see, in some ways, how and why they are who they are.

And I think that is a large part of what this book is about. Why are these people the way they are? How deep are the wounds they suffered? This is a tragic story that we know has hope in the end, but the road to that hope was bloody and violent. The oppression and cruelty of the Capitol is on full display, but we get to see the seeds of the rebellion. The small sparks that will eventually turn into fire.

The story has lots to say about propaganda and how its used by the powerful to maintain that power. There are parallels between this story and the original trilogy when it comes to propaganda, and you can see how the use of propaganda become perfected by the time of the 74th Hunger Games. I’ll let others dig deeper on that. Its fascinating stuff.

There are other parallels that touch on the hijacking of Peeta and a similar fate of a character in this book, how Haymitch and Katniss’ readings are similar, and also how the face of a rebellion is (or is not) chosen.

This review has been a bit all over the place, but without spoilers, I will say that as a fan of this series, I was really happy with the story and the callbacks to characters and situations from the original series and Ballad of songbirds and Snakes. There are some connections that fans have been speculating on that sort of get answered in this book, along with some other surprise connections. Haymitch’s story is a tragedy, but it’s also the story of a survivor. Being a survivor doesn’t mean that you go back to the way you were, but you are changed forever, and sometimes surviving is just being able to make it through the day. Haymitch made it through decades, but only barely. His journey is bittersweet, but more bitter than sweet. I enjoyed going on this part of his journey with him, and I think you will too.

Lilypad Rating: 4 out of 5

The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman

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I did not know anything about this book until I saw it in Barnes and Noble. I’ve read The Magician’s trilogy by Lev Grossman, but hadn’t read anything else by him. I had actually just finished doing a re-watch of the SyFy tv show based on the Magicians (I have very mixed thoughts about that tv show). But, I’m a sucker for a King Arthur story, so I was interested right off the bat. This is not a retelling of the traditional King Arthur stories (LaMorte d’Arthur, Once and Future King, etc.), but it’s a story more so of the Knights of the Round Table, and not the ones that typically get all the attention (Sir Gawain, Sir Galahad, Sir Kay, Sir Percival, Sir Tristan, etc.) This is the story of Sir Bedivere, Sir Dagonet, Sir Palomides, and others. The old favorites make appearances (Galahad, Lancelot, Gawain, etc..) but they are not the focus. It makes the tale seem more like untold stories. Which I think is a nice take on Arthurian legend. I don’t know how unique it is, but for fans of Arthurian legends, it’s a nice change of pace.

Our protagonist is Collum, a young man with a sad past who has dreams of being a Knight of the Round Table in service to King Arthur. Collum makes his way to Camelot, and finds that Arthur is dead, and the Knights of the Round Table are in shambles. The story continues as Collum and the remaining knights set out on a journey to rebuild Camelot and come to terms with how the beloved King Arthur could have possibly been defeated. There are some new twists on old favorites and it wouldn’t be an Arthurian legend without some quests for holy objects and visits to the faery world. The main narrative is broken up by interludes that give us the backstories of the remaining Knights of the Round Table. The story is therefore not linear. Arthur is always a presence, even when he is not depicted in the backstories.

My overall thoughts are that the story is entertaining. I do think it might be a bit long. There are points in the story, particularly in the middle, where it seems as though the backstories are becoming the focus, rather than propelling the main story forward. Side quests are a staple of Arthurian legends, but with several chapters devoted to backstories, I think it is more important to be able to get back to the main story to keep things moving. There’s a twist to the traditional Lancelot, Arthur and Guinevere love triangle, which I enjoyed, but it took us a while to get there. I do recommend The Bright Sword, particularly if you enjoy Arthurian legends. I would not recommend this book as an entry point to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Read the more traditional tellings, first, and then come back to this one for some fun and intersesting twists to the tale.

Lilypad Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

The Navigator’s Children by Tad Williams

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I finished this book before Christmas, but I’ve been ruminating on it since then. I know that this is the last book in the Last King of Osten Ard series, and I believe it’s the grand conclusion to our adventures in Osten Ard as whole. We started with Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, and then continued with the Last King of Osten Ard, intermixed with a couple side novels (The Heart of What Was Lost and Into the Narrowdark). So we have quite the compilation of stories with Simon, Miriamele, Jiriki, Aditu, Isgrimnur, and all of our favorite characters. So, as with the end of any era, it’s bittersweet.

This is a spoiler free review.

It took me a while to read. I started on November 13, 2024, the day it came out, and didn’t finish until December 22, 2024. It’s not that I wasn’t interested or invested in the story, it’s that Tad Williams packs a lot into his stories. He uses a lot of words, and the language is very rich. For me, this makes me read slower, because the content is not meant to be devoured quickly. Some people can do that, but for me, I needed to take my time.

The first few chapters are clearly set up and moving people to get them where they need to be for the climax of the story. It was nice to see those pieces coming together and it didn’t feel too rushed. Once we get everyone where they need to be, that’s where things got a little wonky for me. We have the big battle with the Norns vs (almost) everybody else, and it ends. Great. But then we still have about a third of the book to go, and we still have another antagonist to battle. Taking them one at a time makes sense, but in doing that, there were characters that were just missing for basically the whole middle of the book. We had some characters fighting only one of the antagonists, and then our main protagonists were fighting both antagonists. And then you had the actual navigator’s children plot to wrap up after all that. It was a lot going on and it was handled in a pretty methodical way. My feelings are all over the place about this, so it’s hard to say it was good or bad. It was just different and unexpected.

I don’t like to give too many spoilers, but there is a character that reappears and its kinda anti-climatic. The reveal seemed to come out of nowhere and honestly I almost missed it. It should have been more powerful and dramatic than it was. It just happened. This could be reader error on my part, but, that just means I’ll need to do a re-read! Anyway, the ending was left a bit open. The story continues for these characters, but we still have questions left that we may never get the answers to. For example, we may or may not have seen the Last King of Osten Ard…what we get is more of a “here’s the plan and so you may have seen the last king, but maybe not”. It’s an interesting way to end a sprawling and epic series like this one, and it definitely left me wanting to know more. But the characters continue to live their lives. We only get a piece of their story. Maybe one day we’ll get a little more.

This has been a very rambling review, but I’m not sure if I will ever have concise and coherent thoughts about it. I enjoyed it, and I think that if you love the world of Osten Ard, then I would definitely recommend this series. I would also recommend that you reread it. I think rereading will help answer some questions and probably pose some new ones as well.

Lilypad Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5

Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

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Hello strangers! It’s been awhile and I’m back. Fresh perspective and a new commitment to try to get more consistent. But enough of that. I’m a little rusty, but let’s get to the book review!

Nettle and Bone is a standalone novel about a young woman who has a score to settle. There are tinges of fairy tale, horror and fantasy that are woven into a very close story. This is not a quest to save the world, to avert the apocalypse or prevent the evil from triumphing. Its about a woman who wants to save her sister and punish the man who abused her. As a huge epic and big fantasy fan, this was a refreshing break. The story stayed small and intimate, which made the stakes feel even more intense and personal.

Our protagonist, Mara, is not a super hero. She is not a chosen one who is set to fulfill a prophecy. She is introduced as the youngest daughter in a family, that we only later come to realize is an important family (trying to be little vague for spoilers). As we move through her life, we come to realize that something isn’t right with her sisters. So, Mara embarks on a journey to stop the cycle of abuse that has been happening. Along the way, we get more fairy tale and fantasy character tropes- the fairy godmother, the witch and the valiant knight. Together, they form a small but mighty band of warriors to help Mara on her quest.

Overall, the story was well paced and was sparing on the long descriptions of scenery, and there was just enough exposition to give us just what we need to understand character motivations and to support the decisions the characters make. There’s magic and creatures and a dog made of bones! It’s low on action, but there’s plenty of adventure as the group travels to a far northern kingdom to save its queen.

As a standalone novel, this story has the right amount of set up, character development and a proper beginning, middle and end. I find that sometimes a standalone fantasy novel can either feel incomplete, or feel rushed and shallow. This one definitely feels like a complete story with all the depth that you want in an epic fantasy tale.

Lilypad Rating: 1/2

The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

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This book has been popping all over the place. The level of hype was closer to what you would get for a movie or tv show, rather than a debut novel. Does it live it up to the hype? Mostly yes.

The most interesting thing about the book is the structure. The story of Kihrin, our main protagonist, is told in a fragmented form by two narrators. Kihrin narrates the more recent events of his life, those events that lead us to the jail cell where we first meet him. Another narrative (I won’t give that away), tells Kihrin’s story from further back in his past. There is also a third narrator, who will eventually pick up the story, who provides insights throughout both narratives in the form of footnotes. I wasn’t sure how I would like the narrative structure, but once I got used to it, I quite enjoyed it. It did make a good plot better.

The plot itself was intriguing, but at times there seemed to be plot twists for the sake of plot twists. One of those twists was the parentage of one of the characters. It kept changing, to the point where I was not sure what was true anymore. Now, that could very well be the point, the narrators are not entirely reliable, but it was still a bit more twisty than I thought it needed to be. The plot was already compelling, I didn’t find the additional twists to be necessary. On its surface, the story revolves around Kihrin finding his true destiny and saving the world, but there is a nice sort of twist at the end, that really sets up the other books in the series. That was a twist I appreciated and felt was earned.

A very special shout out to the audiobook. There were three different performers used to wonderful affect. I found myself wanting to listen to the book more than reading it.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. The story isn’t completely unfamiliar to anyone who has read a lot of fantasy, but the narrative device gave it a fresh feel that I really appreciated. I will definitely read this before the next book in the series comes out, since I do feel like I may have missed a few connections on my first read through.

Lillypad Rating: 4 out of 5

An Ember in the Ashes (Series) by Sabaa Tahir

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This review will cover the first three books in the Ember series (An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night and A Reaper at the Gates). The fourth and final book in the series is due in 2019.

This is the story of Laia, a young woman in a slave class that finds her world destroyed, and ends up in a band of resistors who are looking to finally free themselves of the Martials, who are the ruling class of the empire. There is also Elias, who is student at a military school, which trains the best and the brightest to become Masks, an elite fighting force that serves the empire. Eventually, Laia and Elias’s stories intertwine, and we begin our grand adventure to destroy the empire. But of course, the threat is much deeper and our “heroes” discover a threat that is bigger than anything they could have imagined. The fate of the world is at stake!

The story is full of the familiar tropes that we all know; the bastard of a powerful family who wants out; the unrequited love of a best friend; the conspiracy that is bigger than first thought, etc. It makes some plot developments predictable, but, there are enough plot twists that are not conventional, that really elevates the story from being typical fantasy cliches to an interesting story that doesn’t always go the way you’d think.

My one quibble with the novel is my utter lack of interest in the main protagonist, Laia. Especially in the first book, I constantly found myself getting annoyed with her. She was so indecisive, so naive and didn’t really seem to think things through. Granted, it can be just as frustrating when the main character seems to do everything perfectly, even when its something they have never done before, but this almost made me not want to finish the book. What saved me was the story of Elias. I found his character to be much more compelling. Sure, there are some major tropes going on with him as well, but I just found his journey to be the more intriguing of the two. His inner turmoil about being turned into this amoral fighting machine, fighting for an empire he really didn’t care for, while not groundbreaking, was just plain old interesting. The cast of characters surrounding Elias at the school helped as well, although I wish there was a bit more character development there. They weren’t quite distinctive enough for me to really tell them apart, but I think there would have been more time for that sort of development if the book was focused on Elias, and not Laia.

Another reason for me to continue with the series was the twisting and turning of the plot, which I found made up for my lack of interest in Laia. I won’t reveal those twists of course, but we also get some new point of view characters starting in the second book that really beings to round out the overall story.

I did find that once I finished the second book, I really thought that the third book would be the conclusion. Then I read that this was a quartet and not a trilogy. I really think the story could have been condensed to three books, since there were some plot shenanigans that were going on to stretch out.

I know I seem fairly critical, but I did come to enjoy the characters and the story, especially when the new point of view characters were introduced in book two. I am looking forward to the fourth installment, and discovering the ultimate fate of the characters.

Lilypad Rating:LilyPadLilyPad1/2 out of 5

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

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Dread Nation is an alternate history set in the aftermath of the American Civil War. A civil war which ended in part because of zombies. Sounds like fun!

Well, not quite. Just because the dead aren’t staying dead, that doesn’t mean some form of subjugation and oppression of blacks and Native Americans would go away. It just takes a different form. In this timeline, slavery is abolished, but there are still shamblers to fight. So, former slaves and native peoples are forced into combat schools where they are trained to fight shamblers in order to protect the white population. Our main character, Jane, is a young black girl who has been trained at Miss Preston’s School of Combat to be a shambler fighter. It is supposed to be her greatest hope to be chosen by a white lady from high society to be her “Attendant”.  These “Attendants” are basically body guards for their lady, and are meant to protect them from shamblers. Of course, things go horribly wrong for our heroine, and our adventure begins.

I enjoyed the point of view of Jane, who is not only one of, if not the best fighter at the school, but she is rough around the edges to say the least. She is brash and somewhat unapologetic. Its refreshing to have her as the protagonist rather than being the sidekick.   She is reminiscent of the “charming roguish thief”, that you see in many fantasy series. I liked the characters themselves, but I’m not sure how I feel about the actual plot. I liked it when they were at the school, and when they were able to get out of the school and into the surrounding areas (Baltimore, to be exact), but once the location changes, then I began to lose a bit of the connection I had to the story. I still enjoyed it, but the story was expanding a little too quickly for my taste. I had just gotten into that particular corner of the world, and then I was taken out of it. This is the first book in a series, so if there were going to be other books, I felt more time could’ve been spent in their original location. (I’m being vague because I am avoiding spoilers).

I was also concerned about the timeline. I kept thinking it was closer to the end of the civil war than it was (the story takes place in 1880, the U.S. Civil War ended in 1865). I would read a story about what happened at the Battle of Gettysburg when the dead on both sides began to rise.  Maybe that can be a prequel!

The writing had a sharpness that was appealing, with an economy of words that I think worked well overall. Just enough description, but not too much.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and I encourage others to pick it up. The author also has a list of resources in her “Author’s Note” about the history of industrial schools, and how the United States government sent Native children there to be “civilized”. These schools were the basis for her “combat schools” in the novel.

Lilypad Rating:LilyPadLilyPadLilyPad1/2 out of 5

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

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I think I heard about this book through io9’s monthly article about books they are anticipating. I’ll leave the link here. They have a really good list. I’m also interested in Dread Nation and Night Dahlia.

Ash Princess is about a princess, Thora/Theodosia, of the conquered nation of Astrea, who is held hostage by her nation’s conquerors, the Kalovaxians.  Thora is used as a tool to keep the Astreans in line. Step out of line, and the princess is beaten. She is the princess of ashes only, and is treated at times like an honored guest, and at other times like a criminal. Of course, rebellion is in the air, and Thora soon becomes involved in a plot to overthrow the Kalovaxians and take back her kingdom.

As I was reading along, I thought this was a stand alone novel. The plot moved along at a very brisk pace, with just enough information about the characters, culture and circumstances to advance the plot. There were breaks in the story for exposition about the use of gems in the Astrean religion, a little bit of background on the Kalovaxians, and the destruction they have wreaked not only on Astrea, but other nations in this world. But it all seemed pretty surface, no real depth. Which I expect when a story is a stand alone. More emphasis on plot and less on character development. This isn’t a criticism, it was just the impression I got while reading. As we get nearer to the end, it becomes obvious that this won’t get resolved by the end of the book. And I find that I don’t mind that. I am actually curious about what will happen next. I like a good story about the oppressed rising up against the oppressors!

That would be the main criticism I had. I wished that this felt like a first book in a series, rather than a stand alone novel. This may be my own fault for not researching more on this book, but I would like to have seen more world building. The Kalovaxians have a history of concurring and pillaging other countries, so I would like to know more about that. This will probably (hopefully) happen in the next book (or books), but more world building now would have made the story a bit richer, for me.

Lilypad Rating:LilyPadLilyPadLilyPad out of 5

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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This book showed up on several lists of anticipated books of 2018. I added it to my own list because I was in the mood for a Young Adult (YA) story. This is not a dystopian YA story, which is a good thing.

This is the story of a country in what appears to be an African-like continent, where magic has been eradicated (or has it??), and the people who used magic were almost wiped out. Their descendants are an oppressed people who are shunned, ostracized and brutalized by the current regime. They are often used as servants/slaves to the upper classes, including the royal family. This purging of magic took place about 11 years ago. Of course, our young heroine, Zelie, is descended from magic users, and the story focuses on her discovering her destiny to bring magic back.

You can definitely pick out the epic fantasy influences. There’s the hero’s journey, where Zelie denies her destiny, then accepts it. There’s the loss of the wise mentor. There is also the formation of the rag tag group of heroes who will help her on her journey. There are tales of gods, wars, magical objects, and of course romance. There are references to places with similar names to ours (Britaunis, Porltoganes, etc.) This is definitely the same way in which more traditional fantasy infuses medieval English or French cultural influences into the world building.  There is also the use of the Yoruba language that lends even more grounding in cultures here on our own earth.

What this story does so well, is dramatizing a real underlying sense of fear, hate and oppression. There is a heavy sense throughout the book of the depths of hate and intolerance and the lengths people will go to in order to oppress those who are different. The hate and animosity runs deep, and some characters are overcome by it, while others clearly struggle to rationalize what has been done to the magic users, all in the name of  protecting the people. The Author’s Note at the end of the book gives more insight into how this story reflects modern day issues.

I have a few nitpicks, but the one I will mention here is the setting, or timing of the current story.  I would’ve liked this story to take place maybe another generation or two from the eradication of magic. Seeing how wounded this society would be after so many years, would make the stakes a bit higher. How would the descendants of the magic users feel? Would they have sided with their oppressors and believed that magic was bad? Would they mostly be in hiding? Everything seemed so new and raw. I would like to have seen the toll this event has taken on the society, another generation or two later.

Overall, this is a very engaging story, with characters you can root for. There is so much more to this story, so I am looking forward to part two!

Lilypad rating: LilyPadLilyPadLilyPad1/2

The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Bucknell

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This will be a pretty short review because, well, I don’t have that much to say. And that’s not a bad thing!

The Tangled Lands is a world where magic has caused all kinds of problems. Specifically, the invasion of bramble. This bramble thrives on magic- when you use magic, the bramble increases, becomes more invasive, and eventually it will destroy the land. Cities have fallen to the bramble, so magic itself has been outlawed. It has devastating effects on people if they are pricked by any of the thorns.

This novel is devided into 4 parts, each chronicling the impact this ban on magic has made. The Alchemist, who’s invention to destroy the bramble once and for all, and the rulers who seek to use it for their own personal gain, and three other citizens whose lives are impacted by the events and outcome of part one.

Since there were two authors, I assumed that the story would be told by both of them simultaneously, but each author takes a part and gives it his own spin. Its an interesting approach, and I wasn’t distracted by it, it was simply following the narrative of four different characters within the story, which worked well.

I wish I had more to say about it, but I don’t want to spoil things. Needless to say, it was a good read, but I can’t say that I want to visit the world again. The world could have been fleshed out more- there were lots of references to other lands, but we only went to a few. I didn’t get a real feel for any of them. I wanted to know why things ended up they way they did. You are definitely dropped into the middle of this world, but there wasn’t anything to keep me grounded in it. I don’t know if a sequel is planned, but it seems as those this is the middle of the story, rather than the beginning or the end. I don’t feel that I know how this all started, or how it all ended. It left me with an “incomplete” feeling.

Lilypad rating: LilyPadLilyPad1/2