Here we have the last of my pride month recommendations for this year! This post is focused on contemporary and realistic fiction books, but romance and mystery are included in here as well. And as always with my recommendations: diversify your reading 24/7, but always take this time to uplift LGBTQ+ voices!
(click here for this year’s queer YA sci-fi and fantasy recs!)
So let’s begin, shall we?
π³οΈβπTHE BOOKISH MUTANTβS 2022 YA PRIDE MONTH RECS: CONTEMPORARY/REALISTIC FICTIONΒ π³οΈβπ
LGBTQ+ REP: Bisexual MC, lesbian, bi, pan/nonbinary, and gay side characters, straight-passing relationship
MY RATING: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
I’m saying this as a proud bisexual woman: Perfect on Paper is seriously some of the best bisexual rep I’ve ever read! There’s so many important discussions in this book, from internalized biphobia to how the queer community views straight-passing relationships, all with a sweet and messy romance!
LGBTQ+ REP: Bisexual love interest, straight-passing relationship
MY RATING: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ.5
Sick Kids in Love is such an important book for so many reasons (namely its groundbreaking disability rep), but this is what intersectionality looks likeβboth protagonists are disabled and Jewish, and the love interest is also bisexual! Always warms my heart to see disabled bisexual characters.
LGBTQ+ REP: Gay MC, bisexual love interest, mlm relationship, trans woman, lesbian, and gay side characters, side wlw relationship
MY RATING: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Heartstopper hereβsuch a sweet and heartwarming LGBTQ+ romance comic! Plus, I can say with certainty that the bisexual rep is ON POINT. I adored the Netflix show too! (did anybody else full-on SOB during Nick’s coming out scene π)
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What are your favorite queer YA contemporary/realistic fiction books? Have you read any of these books, and if so, what did you think of them? Tell me in the comments!
Today’s song:
That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I really didn’t have much attachment to this book; I think I just put it on my TBR because I’d like Victoria Lee’s previous book, The Fever King, a decent amount, and I’d heard there was queer rep in it. I ended up fishing it out of my TBR to find specifically queer books for pride month, and it was available at my local library, so why not? To my dismay, A Lesson in Vengeance was one of the most frustrating books I’d read in a long timeβit’s been a while since I’ve been this angry at a book.
Felicity Morrow carries a great burden: she may have been responsible for the untimely death of her girlfriend, Alex. After that fateful day, she took a semester off from the Dalloway School, a legendaryβand perhaps hauntedβboarding school deep in the mountains. But when she returns, a fascinating girl named Ellis has arrived, a teen author prodigy who came to the school to research for her next novel. Felicity and Ellis become entrenched in the history of occult and witchcraft tied to the Dalloway School, but the path they go down is one that could lead to deathβor worse.
TW/CW: murder, gore, animal death, loss of loved ones, mental health issues (depression), grief, toxic relationships, descriptions of murder (hanging, burying alive, etc.)
I don’t think a book has made me this angry in ages. I should’ve DNF’d it, but I almost just finished it out of spite. I recognize that there’s so much work that goes into writing a book and putting it out into the world, so take this review as you will, but god. I have an absolute laundry list of gripes with this book, I’m sad to say.
A Lesson in Vengeance pretty clearly took inspiration from The Secret History, a book that I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did. But there’s a key aspect of The Secret History that A Lesson in Vengeance astronomically missed the mark on that could’ve made or broke it: it’s established early on that it’s a cautionary tale, and that these characters are either already horribly toxic people or that the book is their corruption arc. A Lesson in Vengeance misses that by miles, and these deeply flawed characters are romanticized. I’m not saying that I need “UNRELIABLE TOXIC NARRATOR” in skywriting, but the way that Lee romanticized Felicity deliberately going off her meds and dismissing her well-meaning therapists disgusted me. I’m all for “messy” queer characters, but this goes FAR beyond just “messy”βthese are just straight-up horrible people, and it seemed like Lee didn’t recognize this or handle it properly.
Let’s talk more about the characters. Lee’s writing style is what earned the half-star from me, but their prose had a fatal flaw when it came to the characters; most of them are meant to be dangerous and alluring, but what was written as “mysterious writer girl with unorthodox methods” was more than anything just another toxic rich person added to the mix. All of the characters were clearly backstabbing, flawed people who solved their problems with drugs and alcohol, but againβit was all romanticized as part of the “dark academia aesthetic.” I’M SORRY, WHAT? How is rich people smoking indoors an “aesthetic?” More importantly, how is DELIBERATELY GOING OFF YOUR MEDS AN “AESTHETIC?” I’ve never been the biggest fan of dark academia, but I can’t deny that when it’s done well, it’s chilling; this, however, was just a mess of a book built off of an aesthetic that failed to realize its fatal shortcomings. I’m sorry, I don’t want to read about rich people smoking indoors for 370-odd pages.
Additionally, there wasn’t much keeping the plot together. I went in thinking that there would be a murder mystery hidden somewhere, along with witches, the occult, and a budding sapphic relationship. However, the book ended up being 60% rich people smoking and drinking themselves silly (uninteresting from the start) with a weak witchcraft sideplot that was sidelined for most of the book and was never really resolved. All of the diversity that this book promised, though well-intentioned, felt more like a checklist: Black character? Check. South-Asian character? Check. And the sapphic relationship that I was hinging on just ended up being a toxic mess of manipulation without any self-awareness of its nature: again, it was framed as an “alluring, mysterious” kind of thing, when in reality, it was just…borderline abusive and devoid of any emotional intelligence whatsoever.
All in all, a premise that had the potential to be mildly interesting, but did nothing more than romanticize its toxic characters and lend itself to a story centered more around a flimsy aesthetic than a plot. 1.5 angry little stars.
A Lesson in Vengeance is a standalone, but Victoria Lee is also the author of the Feverwake series (The Fever King and The Electric Heir, as well as the novellas The Traitor’s Crown and The Stars and Everything in Between) and the forthcoming The Girl That Time Forgot.
Today’s song:
That’s it for this week’s book review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
Once again, happy pride month! I hope all my fellow queer folks are taking care of themselves this month (and all the time) and finding tons of wonderful queer stuff to read. If nobody’s told you this lately, you are loved, you are valid, you are beautiful, and nobody has any say in your identity except for YOU.
For the past few years, I’ve been compiling YA recommendations of LGBTQ+ books for pride month; back in 2020, I was able to go by genre (click the links for sci-fi, contemporary, fantasy, and historical fiction), but last year, I just compiled my favorites I’d read since then in one post (click here for 2021’s recs). I was planning on doing the same thing as 2021, but my list got so long that I’ve decided to stagger it by genre again. So first off, here are my recs for queer YA sci-fi!
Let’s begin, shall we?
π³οΈβπTHE BOOKISH MUTANT’S 2022 YA PRIDE MONTH RECS: SCI-FI π³οΈβπ
LGBTQ+ REP: queer MC, nonbinary LI, several wlw and mlm side relationships
MY RATING: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ.5
This one technically could’ve gone in fantasy or sci-fi, but it leaned more to the latter for me, which is to say this is a fascinating mix of genres! Perfect for readers looking for a book like Six of Crows or The Gilded Wolves with a more futuristic twist.
LGBTQ+ REP: Queer MC and love interests, polyamorous relationship
MY RATING: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
I know I’ve gone on and on about this book ever since I read it, but if patriarchy-smashing via robots doesn’t entice you, then I’m not sure what will. Go read it!
LGBTQ+ REP: Lesbian MC, sapphic love interest, wlw relationship
MY RATING: βοΈβοΈβοΈβοΈ
The Grief Keeper is so many things, and all of them are wonderfully well-writtenβa commentary on how the U.S. treats its immigrants, an exploration of grief, and a beautiful queer coming-of-age story.
Happy Monday, bibliophiles, and more importantly, happy pride month!! π³οΈβπ
Sorry for the unexplained absence for about a week thereβI was on vacation in California, and I had tons of fun! We were in Yosemite and then San Francisco, and I enjoyed myself in both places. It was lovely to be in San Francisco during pride month and seeing all the pride flags…having them everywhere made me so happy. π
Now, onto the book tag! I was tagged last pride month by the wonderful Hundreds & Thousands of Books, and the tag was originally created by Ally @ Ally Writes Things. I’m definitely going to do a pride recommendation post of my own, but since I would never turn down the opportunity to recommend queer books, I figured I’d participate in this lovely tag!
Give at least one recommendation for each of the prompts below
If you donβt have a recommendation, talk about a book you want to read
Tag as many people as you want!
Let’s begin, shall we?
π³οΈβπPRIDE RECOMMENDATIONS BOOK TAGπ³οΈβπ
A BOOK ABOUT FRIENDSHIP
The Chandler Legaciescenters around a group of unlikely friends, and I loved seeing their relationships develop over the course of the book!
A FAST-PACED BOOK
Victories Greater Than Deathis a fiercely queer space opera, and if you’re looking for lots of action, this one moves at a breakneck pace!
A DIVERSE ROMANCE
Nope, I’m never gonna stop recommending Sick Kids in LoveβI’m not usually a rom-com person, but this was one of the biggest standouts of my reading last year! Isabel has rheumatoid arthritis, Sasha is bisexual and has Gaucher’s disease, and both of them are Jewish! So refreshing to see not just disabled rep, but queer disabled rep!
AN UNDERRATED MEMOIR
Gender Queeris a beautiful graphic memoir about exploring gender and sexuality!
A NONFICTION OTHER THAN MEMOIR
What’s Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and Shewas a super fascinating readβI’d highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of gender-neutral pronouns or linguistics in general.
A BOOK WITH FEWER THAN 10,000 RATINGS ON GOODREADS
I just read The Raven and the Reindeerwhile I was on vacation, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a crime that this book doesn’t get as much attention. One of the best queer fairytale retellings that I’ve read recently!
A BOOK WITH AN LGBTQ+ PROTAGONIST
weeeeeeeeell, all of these books are queer, but I wanted to highlight Perfect on Paperin particular. As a bisexual woman, this is some of the best bi rep I’ve ever read!
A BOOK WITH MORE THAN 500 PAGES
Any Way the Wind Blowsclocks in at a dizzying 640 pages, and while it was the weakest book of the trilogy for me, it was still worth it for Rainbow Rowell’s excellent writing and character-building.
A TRANSLATED BOOK
I haven’t read many translated books at all, and the only queer one that I can think of (Here The Whole Time) is one that I’m not a fan of, so I’ll have to leave this one blank. π«₯
BOOK YOU WANT EVERYONE TO READ
Ever since I discovered it last summer, I’ve been trying to push The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Seaon everybody that I can; it’s been so long since I’ve read a book with such beautiful themes, writing, and romance! Plus, if that doesn’t entice youβqueer pirates and mermaids. Enough said.
A SHORT STORY COLLECTION
All Outfeatures tons of great short stories from a group of amazing queer authors!
A BOOK BY A TRANS OR NONBINARY AUTHOR
Iron Widowis by a nonbinary author, and it’s a fiercely queer and feminist story of breaking free of the gender binary and and dismantling patriarchy and rape culture!
+ anyone else who wants to participate! If you see this tag and want to do it, I’d love to see your answers! If I tagged you and you’ve already done it/don’t want to do it, my bad.
Today’s song:
over the moon obsessed with this right now, won’t be able to think of anything else for the next 3-5 business months
That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
Happy Monday, bibliophiles! I can’t believe September’s almost over already…
Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created by Laurenβs Page Turners. All you have to do to participate is pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.
This book came out a little over a year ago, and I’ve seen it pop up on more than a few “best of the year” lists. It sounds like a unique sort of fantasy novel, and I’m excited to give it a try!
Let’s begin, shall we?
GOODREADS MONDAY (9/27/21) – EACH OF US A DESERT by Mark Oshiro
Xochital is destined to wander the desert alone, speaking her troubled village’s stories into its arid winds. Her only companions are the blessed stars above and enimagic lines of poetry magically strewn across dusty dunes.
Her one desire: to share her heart with a kindred spirit.
One night, Xo’s wish is grantedβin the form of Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the town’s murderous mayor. But when the two set out on a magical journey across the desert, they find their hearts could be a match… if only they can survive the nightmare-like terrors that arise when the sun goes down.
So why do I want to read this?
I haven’t read anything by Mark Oshiro before, but his take on YA fantasy sounds so refreshing!
Putting aside the beauty of this cover (gAH), I’m looking forward to see the setting shine in Each of Us a Desert! Deserts are very volatile environments, especially when there’s a plethora of fantasy elements woven in; having a setting like it in fantasy almost guarantees that there will always be something to move the plot along. Plus…”nightmare-like terrors?” Of course you have my attention.
On top of that, the rep! There’s a sapphic relationship at the forefront, as well as many other queer side characters, and the novel itself is Latinx-inspired and from a Latinx author! In conclusion: I am very excited.
Today’s song:
normally I don’t coordinate my songs with my content buuuuuuuuuuut
That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
As well as this month being Latinx Heritage month, September 16 – September 23 is Bisexual Visibility Week! Celebrate Bisexuality Day/Bisexual Visibility Day is also on September 23rd. It’s such an important week/day to celebrate; even within the LGBTQ+ community, bisexual people are often at the brunt of all kinds of horrible stigmas and are often invalidated and passed off as simply gay or straight. Let the record show that bisexual people are always, ALWAYS valid! No matter your dating history, relationship, or where you stand on the bisexual spectrum, you are loved, you are valid, you are beautiful, and you are bisexual no matter what anyone else tells you. YOU are the only person who gets a say in your identity. πππ
I did a post like this last year (click here if you want to read it!), but I figured I would recommend some more YA reads with bi characters that I’ve read since then. I’m always trying to read more, so if you have any recs for me, please don’t hesitate to comment!
Let’s begin, shall we?
THE BOOKISH MUTANT’S YA READS FOR BISEXUAL VISIBILITY WEEK (2021 EDITION)
You know what’s even better than disabled characters? Queer disabled characters! Both Isabel and Sasha (the protagonist and love interest of Sick Kids in Love) are disabled, and Sasha is bisexual too!
FlΓ‘via, the love interest of The Henna Wars, is bisexual, as well as Black and Brazilian-Irish! It’s always refreshing to see queer POC characters and romances, and this one 100% delivered.
If a Romeo & Juliet retelling where the families of the two protagonists own rival comic shops doesn’t sell you, then I don’t know what will. Ridley is bisexual, and Jubilee is pansexual!
This is a fantastic piece of historical fiction set at the forefront of the gay rights movement in 1970’s San Francisco! It also centers around the romance of a lesbian girl and a bisexual girl.
If you’re a fan of fantasy with atmospheric prose, then Girl, Serpent, Thorn is the book for you! Based on Persian mythology, this was an interesting retelling.
The great thing about the bisexual rep in I Wish You All the Best is as follows: not only is the protagonist nonbinary, but the bisexual rep isn’t boiled down to just girls and boys! Ben is attracted to men and masculine-presenting people; it’s really important to acknowledge that bisexuality isn’t the concrete attraction to girls and boys – while it’s true for a lot of bi people, there are plenty of bi people whose attraction spans over different parts of the gender spectrum.
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What are your favorite YA books with bi rep? Do you have any recommendations for me? Have you ever read any of these books? Tell me in the comments!
Today’s song:
this isn’t the version I have on iTunes but I LOVE this version
That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
Happy Tuesday, bibliophiles! Wow, already the last day of summer for me…I go back to school tomorrow, bright and early…oh, joy. At least I’ll be able to see my friends again.
Anyways, here’s one of my library holds from this week that I enjoyed immensely! I found out about it after reading (and loving) the Wayfarers series. I put it on hold and forgot that I had, and it unexpectedly came in the library last week! And I’m so glad that it did – A Psalm for the Wild-Built was just the kind of book I needed: heartwarming, gentle and philosophical.
Sibling Dex is tired of their quiet life as a monk in the city. Insistent on bringing spice into their life, they leave for the rural parts of town to become a tea monk, giving out tea and consolation to those who need it most. But something is still missing, so they take their tea cart into the uncharted woods.
There, they come upon Mosscap, a robot living in the woods who is eager to know about humans and their ways. Robots are the stuff of legends in Sibling Dex’s world; centuries before, they migrated to the woods, never to be seen again, leaving humans to their own devices. Knowing nothing about each other, Dex and Mosscap embark on a journey through uncharted territory, seeking answers – and finding more than they expected.
TW/CW: honestly? I’ve got nothing here, there’s nothing terribly violent, tragic, or graphic in any way here. It’s a gentle book, and honestly? We need more books like this
Okay, this book had no right to be JUST WHAT I NEEDED. I’d already fallen in love with Becky Chambers’ penchant for making sci-fi tender and human in the Wayfarers series, but A Psalm for the Wild-Built was truly the book equivalent of a warm hug.
Everything about this book made me all soft and warm inside. Chambers’ writing made for a beautiful, atmospheric world, filled with lush plant life, factories grown over with vines, and quirky robots wandering the woods. My mind tended to wander back to the Redwoods and Sequoias while picturing the setting – lots of tall trees, bright greenery, and all sorts of little creatures in every nook and cranny. The worldbuilding was spectacular – I was instantly immersed in the world of Dex and Mosscap, and the fact that it was all squeezed into less than 200 pages was even more impressive. It truly felt like a lived-in world, one that I wouldn’t hesitate to grab a tea cart and take a ride through the woods in.
And the characters? I now have an aggressive need to give both Mosscap and Dex hugs. Sibling Dex’s struggles with dissatisfaction and restlessness were all too relatable, and I loved their journey over the course of the novel. And Mosscap? Mosscap was just all kinds of delightful. From the cover, I pictured a shrunk-down sort of Iron Giant with the voice of C3-PO for it. It was such a cheery, eager, and curious character, and it was the perfect match for Dex’s more introspective tendencies. They made the sweetest pair, and I loved exploring Becky Chambers’ world with them.
Through it all, there’s consistent themes of dealing with dissatisfaction and the meaning of life itself. Like I said – A Psalm for the Wild-Built me told me exactly what I needed to hear, and that is that any time you feel dissatisfied, think of how miraculous life itself is – the existence of the universe and consciousness is such a marvel, why not treat it that way? Which, in a world where we’re all fed up and cagey from staying home and living out day after day in constant repetition, is a crucial message for us. I’ll be doing my best to take it to heart.
All in all, easily the sweetest sci-fi/fantasy novel I’ve ever read, equal parts journeying into the unknown and musing on the nature of life itself. 4.5 stars!
A Psalm for the Wild-Built is the first novel in Becky Chambers’ Monk & Robot series, continuing with the forthcoming A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, slated for release in 2022. Chambers is also the author of the Wayfarers series (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit, Record of a Spaceborn Few, and The Galaxy, and the Ground Within) and the novella To Be Taught, If Fortunate.
Today’s song:
UGH THE GUITAR IN THIS SONG…this album is magic
That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I was in Florida about a week ago for a quick trip, but as I always do, I brought some books along on my Kindle to get me through the plane rides and the heat. I like doing little mini-reviews of these books when I go somewhere else, so I figured I’d do it again here, since I certainly read a couple of very interesting books while I was in Florida. So here we have three mini-reviews of books I read in Florida.
Following a devastating encounter with an unknown alien ship resulting in the disappearance of her parents as a child, Tamara Cartwright now spends her life scouring the galaxy in the hope of finding the dark force that attacked her fatherβs ship. Now the Captain of a rescue vessel, The Massey Shaw, she makes a choice, resulting in the destruction of a star in order to save a stricken vessel, a prohibited act while using alien technology. Now, an outlaw, she is entrusted with the fate of a very unusual young girl endowed with special abilities. She must also find the survivors of an ill-fated ship at the hands of a malevolent race know only to the humans as the Ghosts. Driven by the hope of finding the truth of her parent’s disappearance and one last chance to make a difference to those in need of rescue, she must go on one final mission into deep space and deal with the monsters from her past.
TW/CW: human experimentation, loss of loved ones, death, graphic violence
Forgotten Star wasn’t without its flaws by a long shot, but it was such a fun and fascinating piece of space opera! With lots of political intrigue, strange aliens, and mysterious powers, there’s something for every sci-fi fan in here.
I need to start off with my main problem, though: the grammar. It was…inconsistent, at best. This novel definitely needed an extra round of editing (or two) in that respect; there were lots of errors in punctuation (mostly placement of commas), and there were a few misspellings and omissions that could have been fixed. (As well as a misspelling of “berth,” as in “a wide berth,” as “birth” …YIKES) On occasion, the faulty grammar was enough to take me out of the story entirely, but for the most part, I could let it slide. Sometimes.
But other than that, Forgotten Star was a great piece of sci-fi! One thing this novel did incredibly well was the handling of multiple POVs – for a lot of multiple POV books, it takes a while for all of the characters/elements to coalesce, but it didn’t take long for all of the elements here to come together, making for a cohesive and intricate story. I also loved all of the alien races, and the intricacies of their relationships with humans. It’s always a breath of fresh air to see aliens that clearly have some creative design put into them.
Some of the dialogue and characters were a little stiff and inauthentic at times, but for the most part, a lot of the characters were interesting to delve into. I liked Ona and Urhan, in particular – they had very interesting arcs and backstories, and I loved seeing them develop.
My only other major problem was that the ending wrapped up a *little* too nicely? From everything that built up over the course of the story, it seemed like there was a setup for a sequel, but the ending tried to wrap everything up too quickly. I’d like to see more from this universe.
All in all, though, a well-thought-out and intricate piece of space opera. 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4!
‘She loved me as I loved her, fierce as a bloodied blade’
When Lia, an idealistic queen, falls for Xania, her new spymaster–who took the job to avenge her murdered father–they realise all isn’t fair in love and treason.
Lia wonβt mourn her uncle: he’s left her a bankrupt kingdom considered easy pickings by its neighbours. Sheβs sworn to be a better ruler, but if she wants to push through her reforms, she needs to beat the Court at its own games. For years, Xania’s been determined to uncover her father’s murderer. She finally gets a chance when Lia gives her a choice: become her new spymaster, or take a one way trip to the executionerβs axe. Itβs an easy decision.
When they fall for each other, their love complicates Liaβs responsibilities and Xaniaβs plans for vengeance. As they’re drawn together amid royal suitors and new diplomats, they uncover treason that could not only end Liaβs reign, but ruin their weakened country. They must decide not only what to sacrifice for duty, but also for each other.
TW/CW (from Helen Corcoran): off-page suicide, murder, emotional torture
I’m not sure if I would necessarily call Queen of Coin and Whispers a fantasy novel – there wasn’t a whole lot that would distinguish it from a historical setting (no different magic properties/creatures/worldbuilding/etc.). But that’s not to say that it was a bad book – in fact, it was stunning!
There’s plenty of YA fantasy books on the market with protagonists who suddenly ascend to royalty. But Queen of Coin and Whispers addresses what most of those novels don’t – the mental tax of ruling a country at such a young age. Lia goes through endless trials and tribulations and even faces becoming the ruler that her uncle was, all while grappling with love and other relationships. Corcoran wrote her development so well, and it’s so refreshing to see a genuine-feeling story like Lia’s.
Additionally, the romance! Lia and Xania’s relationship was so sweet – sharing books, secret conversations, and all things warm and fuzzy. They go through all the ups and downs of first love, and I love seeing wlw rep like theirs in non-contemporary stories. I love those two. π
Other than that, the political intrigue and the depiction of the transition of power was so well-done! Everything was so multi-layered and detailed, making it feel like Lia and Xania’s world was a real and fleshed-out one. Just when you think you know the answers, something new pokes out its head, and you’re left guessing until the very last page.
All in all, a fascinating royal mystery with genuine characters and a sweet sapphic romance. 4 stars!
Parole is still burning. And now the day everyone has been waiting for is finally here: itβs collapsed. A lucky few managed to escape with their lives. But while their city burned, the world outside suffered its own devastating disaster. The Tartarus Zone is a deadly wasteland a thousand miles wide, filled with toxic storms, ghostly horrors, and just as many Eyes in the Sky as ever. Somehow, this new nightmare is connected to Parole. And itβs spreading.
Now Paroleβs only hope lies in the hands of three teenagers reunited by their long-lost friend Gabriel – in their dreams. Now they’re on a desperate cross-country race, carrying vital plans that may be Paroleβs salvation. First theyβll board the FireRunner, a ship full of familiar faces that now sails through Tartarusβ poison storms. Then, together, theyβll survive Tartarusβ hazards, send a lifeline to lost Parole – and uncover the mystery connecting everyone, inside Parole and out.
The world outside Parole isn’t the one they remember, and it didnβt want them back. But they’ll save it just the same. It’s what heroes do.
(for my mini-review of book 1, Chameleon Moon, click here!)
TW/CW: loss of loved ones, violence, near-death situations
I didn’t like this one *quite* as much as I did Chameleon Moon, but it was still such a fun read!
One of the things I love most about this series is how diverse it is – easily the most diverse series I know! We have an almost entirely different cast of characters in The Lifeline Signal, but among the three main characters, we have a nonbinary (xie/xir pronouns) Native American (Tsalagi) character with Arnold-Chiari malformation, a bisexual Indian-American character, and an aro-ace autistic Vietnamese-American character! Among the side characters, there’s no shortage of queer, POC, and disabled characters, including a Black hijabi woman, a nonbinary character, polyamorous relationships, and more! Books as diverse as this series don’t come along very often, so three cheers for RoAnna Sylver for all this representation!
The worldbuilding outside of Parole was also fascinating – there’s all sorts of weird sci-fi and fantasy aspects, including, but not limited to: superpowers, ghosts, dragons, giant ships, and robotic animals of immense size. As you can imagine, it’s a lot of fun! Between the relationships between all of the characters and the expansion of the worldbuilding, there’s no shortage of interesting elements to chew on. Plus, it was so sweet to see all of the characters from Chameleon Moon come back.
My only major problem was that the plot got a little bit convoluted at times – I found myself thinking “wait, why is all this happening?” several times throughout the novel, but it didn’t take me out of the story itself. Don’t get me wrong – The Lifeline Signal has a great story, but it seemed to get lost in itself at times.
All in all, a sequel that does justice to book one as well as expanding its world, while still providing an original storyline. 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4!
βοΈβοΈβοΈ.75
Today’s song:
I saw Sleater-Kinney and Wilco (we came for Wilco, they were AMAZING) on Tuesday night, and even though most of Sleater-Kinney’s stuff didn’t make me feel anything, there were a couple songs that I thought were interesting! This is one of them
That’s it for these three mini-reviews! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme created byΒ Laurenβs Page Turners. All you have to do to participate isΒ pick a book from your Goodreads TBR, and explain why you want to read it.
I’m always on the hunt for a good space opera book, and so this one immediately caught my eye. It’s drawn a couple comparisons to The Mandalorian (which wasn’t perfect, but I liked it a lot), which should be promising…
Let’s begin, shall we?
GOODREADS MONDAY (7/26/21) – PERSEPHONE STATION by Stina Leicht
Persephone Station, a seemingly backwater planet that has largely been ignored by the United Republic of Worlds, becomes the focus for the Serrao-Orlov Corporation as the planet has a few secrets the corporation tenaciously wants to exploit.
Rosieβowner of Monkβs Bar, in the corporate town of West Brynnerβcaters to wannabe criminals and rich Earther tourists, of a sort, at the front bar. However, exactly two types of people drink at Monkβs back bar: members of a rather exclusive criminal class and those who seek to employ them.
Angelβex-marine and head of a semi-organized band of beneficent criminals, wayward assassins, and washed up mercenaries with a penchant for doing the honorable thingβis asked to perform a job for Rosie. What this job reveals will affect Persephone and put Angel and her squad up against an army. Despite the odds, they are rearing for a fight with the Serrao-Orlov Corporation. For Angel, she knows that once honor is lost, there is no regaining it. That doesnβt mean she canβt try.
So why do I want to read this?
please tell me somebody else can HEAR this image
This one has lowish ratings on Goodreads as of now (about 3.49 at present), but from the reviews, there really isn’t anything that’s making me want to kick it off my TBR. Maybe it’s that gorgeous cover, maybe it’s because it’s space opera, but either way, I can’t wait to read Persephone Station!
The synopsis is absolutely giving me Mandalorian vibes; I love the potential setting of Persephone Station itself, and I’m getting the feeling that I’ll see a strange cast of characters. (Fingers crossed!) Plus, it apparently has lesbian, bisexual, and nonbinary rep throughout, which makes me even MORE excited! (There’s only one thing better than space opera…and that’s QUEER SPACE OPERA.) Plus, the cover is so pretty! Whoever did the illustrations for it did such a great job.
In short: you sold me at queer space opera and Mandalorian vibes.
Today’s song:
That’s it for this week’s Goodreads Monday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I got to take a trip to my favorite bookstore last week, and this was one of the books that I picked up. I’d been meaning to read it for years after loving M.K. England’s debut, The Disasters, and I finally got to buy it and reading! And despite the average ratings, England’s second novel is a genre-bending success!
my copy ft. a cool filter and some crystals, stones, and my bismuth
Kyrkata is a place where futuristic technology and magic – known as maz – live in harmony, but after a magical plague wracks the population, the maz supply is depleted. Corporations now hold maz with a tight fist, racking up the prices while the people who need it most turn to crime in order to get it.
Enter Diz, Remi, Jaesin, and Ania. For two years, they’ve run an illegal maz-siphoning operation. But with college on the horizon, their next heist has to be their last. When their “last job ever” results in a deadly new strain of maz, the four teens must stop a dangerous secret from coming to the surface – and get to the bottom of a corporate conspiracy that may mean the end of their world.
TW/CW: descriptions of illness, loss of loved ones (off-page), violence, near-death situations
Ok. Hear me out.
So if all of the strains of maz have the suffix -az at the end of them (ex. firaz, magnaz), would that mean that Gorillaz would be a valid name for a strain of maz? Guess they’d have to call it maz-19-2000 instead of maz-15…
…okay, I’ll shut up now. I’m just making myself giggle at this point
the Gangβ’οΈ after the maz-15 incident
[ahem] anyways
It’s really such a shame that this book isn’t getting the recognition it deserves. This is what a genre-bending novel should be – it’s a seamless blend of sci-fi and fantasy, with enough worldbuilding to make both of them work! And Spellhacker has everything – heists, found family vibes, weird creatures, exploding magic, and casual queerness!
What stood out most for me was the tender found-family dynamic in this novel. All four of the main characters – especially Diz, our protagonist – are delightfully real and as messy as they come, but they just felt so genuine. They all had their lovely little quirks, and they all bounced so sweetly off of each other. The love between them (both platonic and romantic, I might say) brimmed off the page, and it made my heart so happy. Through thick and thin, they were all there for each other. Spellhacker reminded me of why the found family trope is easily my favorite trope!
And if there’s one thing better than found family, it’s a casually queer and diverse found family! Diz is queer, Remi (her love interest) is nonbinary, and there’s several wlw and mlm couples! (Or, to quote M.K. England themself, “elderly science husbands.”) There’s also a lot of POC-coded characters present, and the diversity truly shines in this novel.
And beyond that, Spellhacker is SO. MUCH. FUN. If any of you here are fans of Six of Crows or The Gilded Wolves, YOU’RE GONNA EAT THIS BOOK UP. It’s fast-paced, high-stakes, and full of disguises, hacking, chase-scenes, and breakneck action. From the moment the crew botched their last heist, the novel takes off, not letting go until the final page. But even with all that, England still allowed the crew moments to be tender, allowing for a lot of sweet scenes and character interactions. It’s the perfect balance of action and softness.
I have…mixed feelings about the worldbuilding, though. For the most part, I thought it was great; there was clearly a lot of care put into the types of maz and how society controlled them, and the various underground operations to siphon it. Kyrkata’s implied to be a world completely different from ours, but there were references to things that were very Earth-specific (I can’t remember them off the top of my head), and several of the characters had very Earth-sounding last names, which threw me off a little. But overall, the things I found were fairly nit-picky, so the worldbuilding was solid overall.
There was also something unexpected hidden in Spellhacker that I loved – England wove the usage of the maz into a metaphor for climate change, and the relationship that corporations have with the environment. Without spoiling anything, there’s themes of greed and destroying the environment in the name of making money, and I love how Diz and the others combatted that. We all love seeing corporations getting their comeuppance, don’t we?
All in all, a fast-paced novel that seamlessly blends sci-fi and fantasy to make an action-packed bundle of exploding fun. 4.5 stars!
okay I KNOW I need to stop with the Rabbi Milligan gifs, but Diz says something almost exactly like this line and it made me so giddy ksdjhfskjdfh
Spellhacker is a standalone, and M.K. England’s second novel. They are also the author of The Disasters and a forthcoming middle grade novel called Ultimate Gaming Showdown, scheduled for release in 2022.
Today’s song:
That’s it for this week’s Book Review Tuesday! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
![INSEPARABLE (Jikook) [finished] - *More Than Life Itself* - Wattpad](https://img.wattpad.com/c03e0288d35a96ce1721ca287f64c22026268c54/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f79687046753233707448507868673d3d2d3739363932333737352e313563666262623662666235303938613939313135383535383535312e676966)
The Bookish Mutant 