Review: The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Broadbent

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It has been a while since I posted. I would say I’ve been busy and on vacation but Kate was on vacation with me and she still managed to post things. I was reading Assistant to a Villain and then my preorder for this book came and I had to read it. When we last left Oraya and Raihn they had won the Kejuri, Raihn killed Vincent to become king and then forced Oraya to marry him instead of putting her to death also. It’s kind of messed up but let’s just go with it. They are not in a good place. Oraya, understandably is a mess. She is grieving her father and feeling betrayed by Raihn. Her people are on the run and those who are her enemy now occupy her home. Raihn is now King even though he never wanted to be and being a former slave is not exactly well liked by his nobles. It is a good thing that I read the novella, Six Scorched Roses because Vale and Lilith return in this book to help Raihn out.

For me, this book did start off a bit slow. While the other book went almost immediately into the action of the Kejuri. This one focused on the politics of court. Which important to building the world but also to show the difficulties ahead for both Oraya and Raihn. Once, they are overthrown things start moving again as they action starts to really gear up. I could have done without the mini horcrux missions they had to go through to find mysterious weapons that Vincent left behind. I know it was important to the story as it not only explained more about who Vincent was and his motivation but also an avenue to learn more about Oraya’s mother. The introduction of it was a bit clunky. Other than that, this was a satisfying sequel. I want to say that this the ending of their story but there is definitely a little cliffhanger with a Goddess that will eventually have to be resolved but I believe the next book will focus on Mische. Which I totally support. She could use some happiness.

Review: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

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Set on a small island North of the Arctic circle in Norway in the 1600s, this novel follows the lives of women in a fishing village who lose most of their men in a freak storm and then get caught up in the witch hysteria sweeping Europe. It is centered on the lives of Maren, a young girl woman from the island who lives with her mother, sister-in-law and her newborn nephew and Ursa, the Bergen born newly wed wife of the new Commissioner assigned to the town. Their relationship was an unexpected twist that I really enjoyed. Ursa is not prepared to find herself at the edge of the world in a one room house without so much as a maid and Maren is not expecting to stumble into a friendship with this helpless woman. As their friendship grows, a fever of distrust and poisonous religiosity spread through the village.

This book was compelling. I was infuriated, saddened, and touched. The ending caught me by surprise. If you like books that center women’s stories and historical fiction. I recommend you try this one!

What I’m Listening to now: The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu and read by Luke Daniels)

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This is the book that the netflix show is based on. A friend told me that the books were good, so I put myself on the library wait list for all three books. The first one has finally become available!

Review: A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (read by Mary Robinette Kowal)

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Y’all, this one was fun.

Our main character, Samantha, is an archeo-entomologist and she is on hiatus from her job at a dig site because they found human remains. Since she can’t work until the remains are identified and dealt with according to the wishes of living family or the they’re repatriated to the tribal nation to whom they belong and since she’s sublet her apartment in Arizona for six months, Sam decides to stay in North Carolina with her mother.

When she returns to her mother’s house, she finds it off. Where the things had previously been bright and cheerful, they’re now cold and sterile. And her mother seems to be more anxious than she’s ever seen her before. But, she and her mother settle into a little routine of boxed wine and British detective shows. But things get weird. And then they get weirder. And then they get weirder still. Sam ends up having to play detective on her own so she can figure out if she’s going crazy, if there is something wrong with her mother (maybe both!), or if there’s something very, very wrong with the house.

I didn’t mean to pick two books more or less in a row where an unsettling living situation was part of the plot, but I’m glad I did. This is more Southern Gothic vibes than Gothic horror, but it was still good. The chilling parts of the plot were chilly and the weird parts of the plot were indeed unexpected and weird. I really like T. Kingfisher’s novels. Something that is true about both this and Hollow Places is that they have a protagonist who is an accomplished woman who, for varying reasons, has to return home. And I liked that Sam was a Ph.D. and that her speciality was part of the plot. Insects aren’t really my jam, but its fun to see people, even fictional people, get excited about what makes them excited.

So, if you like creepy stories about family and home situations that are not quite right, I recommend this. I do have a little warning, though, if swarms of bugs are a big nope for you, there is some swarming.

It was a fun read! This was another book that I got from my local library!

What I’m Reading Now: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

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Another book suggested by a friend from knitting group in what is becoming the convergence of two different trends in my life: reading books suggested by knitters and crocheters and reading actual physical books I have checked out from the library. I know nothing about this other than Grace said it was good. I can’t wait to get into it!

Unhauling: Finding my next read

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One of the hacks I mentioned in my previous post was to read the first page or so and see what grabs me. I don’t really have a pile of ‘what to read next’, but as I went through my shelves I started pulling one or two from the book cases. I added these to pile near my bed (one of a few). I thought if I narrowed it down to 6-7, that should make it easier to find where I want to head next.

I’ve got one non-fiction in the stack, a memoir of living in the Netherlands. I’ve got some booktok recs, Ice Planet Barbarians and The Queer Principles of Kit Webb. One historical romance (Mine till Midnight), one that’s maybe about demons and evil kings (Carnival of Souls), one about the West and riding horses and doing jobs stealing stuff (The Sisters Brothers) and one that’s maybe about vampires (The Beautiful)? (It is tough to say from the first page, so some of these are guesses. ) Part of me is leaning towards Kit Webb, as it is Pride Month, and part of me is leaning towards the second installment of Ice Planet Barbarians.

I think I’ve had the Sisters Brothers longest, but Mine til Midnight is the oldest. This was supposed to make it easier, having an actual TBR pile, but I don’t think it is.

What would you read next? How do structure your TBR pile? Sound off in the comments!

Review: The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

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The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas is a gothic horror delight. Set in the time after the Mexican war for independence, we follow Beatriz as she moves into in her new husband’s pulque-producing hacienda. She is the second wife of the Rodolfo, who’s previous wife died under mysterious circumstances. Everyone seems to have a different story about how his first wife died. The war was hard on Beatriz and her family, but she sees this marriage as a way to change her and her family’s fortunes. It also follows Andres, a local priest who was raised on the Hacienda but for unknown reasons has been banished. Beatriz finds the house to be fine, if neglected at first, but increasingly sinister as the novel progresses. She finds Rodolfo’s sister, an unexpected addition to the property, to be unsettling at best and actively working to undermine her at worst. She must call on the help of Andres and solve the mystery of the house before she becomes another one of its victims.

I enjoyed the setting of this immensely. I know a little bit about Mexico’s history and I loved the idea and the execution of a story with the foreboding home, mysterious husband, a first wife, etc. set in this period of post-war turmoil. This is set in a period of Mexican history where there were a lot of different factions and uncertainties, which was perfect for setting up the characters. It gave the typical elements of gothic horror another layer where we were also looking at the horrors of colonialism. Cañas is a Mexican-American author and says in an author’s note that she picked this time period and wrote these characters in part to fill a gap that she had found in this genre. She had never read stories about women like her. In that same author’s note, she also recommends history readings, in case you are further interested in the time period. I very much appreciate that.

This was really good and if you like gothic horror/romance elements, then I recommend this! Another great find at my local library!

The First Pile from Unhauling My Shelves

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One of the things that has been hardest about looking at the books I have and what I want to keep or not is that I have a lot of books that were either gifts or they were recommended by people I love. And sometimes I see that as letting them down by not reading the book or getting rid of the book. Do you ever feel like that? “Someone gave this to me so I have to keep it.”

I decided when approaching my shelves that I would do two things. The first is that I would remind myself that if someone gave me a book, sure they wanted me to read it. But they also care about me and care about my happiness. Sometimes that’s hard to wrap my head around, but this is going to be a slow process, so it’s fine if I have to come back to a shelf a couple times. So, now I’ve gone through one book case and I have a stack of books that I know I’ve not read or that I know I won’t re-read.

The second hack I’m using is from this blog. Now that I’ve got this stack, I’m going to open the ones I haven’t read and read a couple pages. If they catch me, they can go back on the shelf but if they don’t, they’ll stay in the ‘thanks for your service’ box with the books I know I won’t re-read.

You’ll see from the stack there are a fair amount of graphic novels and romances in the pile. I don’t really read graphic novels anymore, and while I have been reading romance, I’ve been reading some of the spicier contemporary ones. But, this first step is done. I have a stack of books, almost ready to be donated so that they can be someone else’s treasure.

Have you thought about unhauling your shelves? What do you think would be the hardest part about it for you?

Review: Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim (read by Emily Woo Zeller)

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I did not mean to start another series. But, I reached the top of the waiting list at my local library as I was finishing The Starless Sea and I don’t always remember what something is or why I put myself on the wait-list when it comes time to check things out. So, here we are.

Shiori’anma is a princess, the only princess, in the kingdom of Kiata and she does not want to get married. She wants to hang out with her bros and live her life. But, of course, that isn’t what she gets. Following a disastrous failure of a betrothal ceremony, Shiori ends up without an engagement and having to sew an apology tapestry under the watchful eye of her stepmother, Raikama. This turns out to be extra bad news because Shiori is hiding magic in a kingdom that has forbidden magic and Raikama has a secret; she is a sorceress. When Shiori discovers her stepmother’s secret, Raikama banishes her and transforms her six brothers into cranes. Shiori wakes on the other side of the kingdom unable to use her voice, with no money and no identity. She must find a way to survive, reunite with her brothers and return to the capital before something even more terrible than the King losing his heirs can happen. Shiori, of course, finds help along the way.

This was a fun read. I enjoyed Shiori’s arc and the supporting cast of characters are also very fun. There were some unexpected twists that I really enjoyed. I’m interested in what happens next so I’ve added myself to the wait list of the second book. If you like a mix of fairy tale elements, women coming into their power and kicking ass, and slow burn romance, this is for you.