A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

***

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

I’ve adored June Hur’s past books and I was so excited to see another in the works. A Crane Among Wolves is half a murder-mystery, half a palace drama. We follow Iseul in the 16th century Joseon Empire as she searches for her sister, who’s been kidnapped and forced into the tyrant Emperor’s harem. At the same time, Prince Daehyun has been slowly mustering up the resources to throw a coup and end his brother’s reign of terrible. All of this is occurring while in the background, a series of grotesque murders are occurring. In typical June Hur fashion, the writing is an excellent blend of Iseul’s desperation to save her sister and the palace drama of Prince Daehyun. The pacing is very tightly written, giving just enough room to breath at the big emotional scenes. Unfortunately, Iseul’s written as a rathered spoiled girl who’s facing hardship for the first time with her sister gone, so I often found her character quite frustrating to follow compared to some of Hur’s other main characters. I know this is historical fiction and so the main beats of history ought to be followed, but it never made sense to me why a group of guys couldn’t just Julius Caesar the emperor when it seems literally everyone hated him, including the guards. Overall, I rate this book a 3.5/5

Earthflown by Frances Wren, illustrated by Litarnes

When Ethan saves the life of a firestarter, it’s nothing unusual. He’s the only healer on call at the hospital – and that gunshot wound isn’t going to regenerate itself. But his patient turns out to be Corinna Arden, heiress to a pharmaceutical empire controlling Britain’s water supply. Her twin, Javier, is a man who (a) starts sending Ethan flowers at work, (b) seems terrified of a secret, and (c) has the cheekbones and earnestness to make up for both.

Ethan indulges in (what he thinks will be) a brief, harmless romance – but is swept up in a deadly collusion over Project Earthflown: the largest reconstruction tender since London clawed its way out of the rising sea.

Determined to follow the money, Ollie is a journalist who finds a corpse at the end of a too-convenient tip. The fate of water – and who profits – might depend on the perennial question: has Ethan lost his mind, or is he just an idiot?

*****

I recieved a copy of this book from the author. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

This book has been on my radar for literal years, even since I first encountered Litarnes’ gorgeous gorgeous artwork. Seriously, how beautiful is that? Between that skeleton concept art and the people with superpowers just going about their lives ‘premise’, I just had to read this and I was definitely not disappointed!

The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

Leslie Bruin is assigned to the backwoods township of Spar Creek by the Frontier Nursing Service, under its usual mandate: vaccinate the flock, birth babies, and weather the judgements of churchy locals who look at him and see a failed woman. Forged in the fires of the Western Front and reborn in the cafes of Paris, Leslie believes he can handle whatever is thrown at him—but Spar Creek holds a darkness beyond his nightmares.

Something ugly festers within the local congregation, and its malice has focused on a young person they insist is an unruly tomboy who must be brought to heel. Violence is bubbling when Leslie arrives, ready to spill over, and he’ll have to act fast if he intends to be of use. But the hills enfolding Spar Creek have a mind of their own, and the woods are haunted in ways Leslie does not understand.

*****

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

Lee Mandelo really said this one’s for the monsterfuckers. The Woods All Black is a captivating gothic Christian-fundie horror novella. We follow Leslie, a war-hardened nurse, who’s been sent by the Frontier Nursing Service to this back-water Appalachian town of Spar Creek. There, he’s immediately faced with hostile suspicion by this isolated community, drummed to a fervor by the local pastor. And given the setting, something unnerving is lurking at the edges of the woods, evoked beautifully by Lee’s immaculate prose. Without giving much away, there are beasts prowling in the dark, Leslie slowly discovers whether they are friend or foe (see first sentence). Lee’s development of Leslie’s character, a trans man existing in a particularly hostile environment in the 1920s, is fascinatingly portrayed and the historical elements were interesting to learn about. As someone who grew up adjacent to Christian fundamentalists, Mandelo absolutely nails the horrific atmosphere even just one religiously-fervent pastor can wield, to an unnerving degree. I found myself struggling to read at times because of how uncomfortably accurate the zealotry was portrayed and had to stop and restart multiple times. Unfortunately, it means this book hits just a little too close to ever be a favorite, but regardless it is spectacularly written. Overall, I rate this book a 4.5/5.

An Education in Malice by ST Gibson

Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua’s College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.

On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.

But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.

**

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

DNF @ 51%

I think it’s about time I accept that A Dowry of Blood will be a one-hit wonder for me. An Education In Malice had everything going for it: a Dark Academia aesthetic, vampires, and a theme of madness and obsession. Basically, everything I loved about Dowry. And yet, I found myself bored to tears reading it. I couldn’t wait to hit the halfway mark just so I could finally let myself put it down. The central issue is that Malice lacks any sort of depth to speak of. When I think dark academia, yes there’s the aesthetic side of blazers and the notebooks and girls studying on the school lawn. But, paired with it I expect characters with hidden secrets, layered storytelling, and clever academic intrigue. The parts that make the genre actually interesting. Of which Malice had absolutely none. Carmilla and Laura are painfully shallow, predictable characters. There’s nothing of interest bubbling under the surface, waiting for the reader to piece together. Their relationship together felt so uncompelling, and their obsession with their professor and vampire De Lafontaine undeserved. The writing is beautiful, sure, but beautiful in the Tumblr post of “excerpts from books I will never write” kind of way. Beautiful on their own, but not in a way that meaningfully contributes to the story. Overall, I rate this book a 2/5.

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan

Welcome to Tiankawi – shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears.
 
But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk — sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas—who live in the polluted waters below.
 
For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to reform. At last, she has the ear of the city council and a chance to lift the repressive laws that restrict fathomfolk at every turn. But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn’t hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when a water dragon is exiled to the city.
 
New arrival Nami is an aristocratic water dragon with an opinion on everything. Frustrated by the lack of progress from Mira’s softly-softly approach in gaining equality, Nami throws her lot in with an anti-human extremist group, leaving Mira to find the headstrong youth before she makes everything worse.
 
And pulling strings behind everything is Cordelia, a second-generation sea-witch determined to do what she must to survive and see her family flourish, even if it means climbing over the bodies of her competitors. Her political game-playing and underground connections could disrupt everything Nami and Mira are fighting for.
 
When the extremists sabotage the annual boat race, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Even Nami realises her new friends are not what they seem. Both she and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.

*****

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

I was so so so excited for this book, from both hype from friends and also just the gorgeous cover artwork (just look at it!!). Unfortunately, while the worldbuilding is gorgeous, with strong melding between East and South Asian cultures, the one the characters dragged the story down.

Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine

One look can kill.

Riley has not seen a single human face in longer than she can reckon. No faces, no eyes. Not if you want to survive.

But when a new neighbor moves in down the road, Riley’s overwhelming need for human contact makes her throw caution to the wind. Somehow, in this world where other people can mean a gruesome, bloody death, Ellis makes her feel safe. As they grow closer, Riley’s grip on reality begins to slip and she can no longer fight her deepest desires.

All Riley wants to do is look.

***

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

This is definitely a book I requested for its cover. Look at it! Can you blame me? Unfortunately, the story inside didn’t quite meet the mark. Your Shadow Half Remains is a psychological horror in an isolated small town. Some time ago, a new phenomenon has emerged, where humans who make eye contact with each other have a chance of going mad and killing everything around them, and then themselves. To combat this, humanity has isolated themselves further and further from each other, until society has begun to fray at the edges. The Covid vibes are extremely strong in this one and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the author’s Covid coping mechanism. Our main character, Riley, has sent herself into an isolated small neighborhood after what’s implied to be the death of her immediate family, with no long-term plan beyond survival. There, she comes upon her neighbor Ellis and weird things start happening around her that she has no memory of. I’m usually a fan of these types of descent-into-madness stories, but there was something about Riley’s narration that made her sound distant to me, something about the story that just didn’t connect. Still, the atmosphere was indeed delightfully creepy. Overall, I rate this book a 3/5.

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?

November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.

As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.

*****

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

I’m not usually one for stories set in the World Wars. I find them far too depressing for the payoff to be worth it. However, I did enjoy Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, so I gave this book a shot and wow was I glad I did. With beautiful prose, intimate character studies (against the depressing backdrop of WWI), and a striking memorable story, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a must-read for any literary fantasy fan.

Cover Reveal: Earthflown by Frances Wren, Illustrated by Litarnes

When Ethan saves the life of a firestarter, it’s nothing unusual. He’s the only healer on call at the hospital – and that gunshot wound isn’t going to regenerate itself. But his patient turns out to be Corinna Arden, heiress to a pharmaceutical empire controlling Britain’s water supply. Her twin, Javier, is a man who (a) starts sending Ethan flowers at work, (b) seems terrified of a secret, and (c) has the cheekbones and earnestness to make up for both.

Ethan indulges in (what he thinks will be) a brief, harmless romance – but is swept up in a deadly collusion over Project Earthflown: the largest reconstruction tender since London clawed its way out of the rising sea.

Determined to follow the money, Ollie is a journalist who finds a corpse at the end of a too-convenient tip. The fate of water – and who profits – might depend on the perennial question: has Ethan lost his mind, or is he just an idiot?

*****

I’m so excited to be participating in the cover reveal of my most highly anticipated SFF novels, Earthflown!! I first found Earthflown years ago when browsing through Litarnes’ beautiful Genshin Impact fanart and I’ve been buzzing with anticipation since! A queer romance, futuristic medicine, and magic! The book includes 60+ illustrations by Litarnes, and with how gorgeous the character art is already, I cannot wait to see the finished copy!

Indigo is currently running a 30% pre-order sale!!

INDIGO PRE-ORDER = indigo.earthflown.com

Goodreads Link = goodreads.earthflown.com

Storygraph Link = storygraph.earthflown.com

Earthflown all-editions buy guide Link = earthflown.com/buy

Newsletter Sign-up Link = subscribe.earthflown.com

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.

At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.

Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.

As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.

*****

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

What a ride! I haven’t had so much fun reading a book in such a long time. Gripping story, fun characters, and Bennett’s signature engrossing drip-fed worldbuilding, The Tainted Cup kept me up til 3AM, absolutely enthralled.

Exordia by Seth Dickison

“Anna, I came to Earth tracking a very old story, a story that goes back to the dawn of time. it’s very unlikely that you’ll die right now. It wouldn’t be narratively complete.”

Anna Sinjari―refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker―has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, she must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world.

*****

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Review:

Seth Dickinson you marvelous marvelous man. I went into Exordia having barely read the (extremely vague) summary, but putting full faith in one of my favorite authors to take me on a journey, and he damn well did. Exordia has already marked itself as a contender for ‘Top Books of 2024’ and the year has barely begun.

First off, this book is NOT a standalone. I thought so too. Now onto the review.