Review: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a very unique historical fantasy about the Beast of Gévaudan with some Jehanne d’Arc in the mix as well.  Set in the late 1700s in France, Sebastian Grave sets out to right the wrongs of his past.  

I found this a bit hard to follow at times as it not only follows Sebastian in the past with Antoinne his friend and lover during the initial Red Winter and during the present with Antoinne's son.  There are also a ton of characters, who are not always referred to by the same name from scene to scene.  For example, Sebastian's "guest" Sarmodel is mainly referred to as Sarmodel, but there are a few scenes especially when the archangel Michael is present when he goes by another name.  This is true for several characters, who have a religious name or alias as they are immortal or serve a religious purpose.  As this book is fairly long this can get confusing especially when you are listening to the audiobook, for books like this I prefer to have a print book handy so I can refer back to names and places to keep me from getting confused but that is a personal preference.  The interactions between the characters was great and I enjoyed Livia's POV in between the main story.  She added some humor to a darker story despite her chapters focusing more on Joan of Arc and more of the religious aspects of the book.

I was surprised to find out this was a debut novel as the writing feels like that of a seasoned fantasy novelist.  The storyline was unique, the pacing was good, and while I would have liked more information on certain things that can be true of any book or author.  I would have liked to better understand how Sebastian and Sarmodel were joined, it may have been mentioned, but I clearly missed it.  The two of them together were a great pairing and we get to see them speak to one another often.  There is plenty of action to balance out the character driven parts of the story, and I enjoyed the mix of magic and fantasy elements that were woven into the religious, political, and social aspects of the book.  If you are looking for a book that blends genres this is a good one.

I like the way the footnotes were read in the audiobook, it felt like the characters were trying to break the 4th wall, which is not often done in audio format.  From other reviews of the book I can see that these were the footnotes/endnotes.  The audiobook was fantastic the way it was narrated.  Both of the narrators were excellent and I highly recommend the audio.  I plan on listening to it again to pick up the bits I missed soon.  

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Review: A Rose of Blood and Binding: The Middlemist Trilogy, Book 3 by Claire Legrand

A Rose of Blood and Binding: The Middlemist Trilogy, Book 3 by Claire Legrand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is the conclusion to the Middlemist Trilogy, and while each book follows a different sister, I don't feel like you can read them as standalones.  The main plotline is interwoven between the three books and to truly understand what is going on you would need to start at the beginning.  Now if you are only interested in Mara and her part of the story you could get away with reading them individually as there is enough info to fill in the blanks about what is happening and the main storyline follows Mara and her journey.

Mara has been portrayed as a brave and strong warrior in the previous two books, but in this installment we find that she has a lot of feelings about being sent away at a young age to train with the Roses.  The Roses are a band of female warriors secluded from their families who train hard and protect the realm from the mysterious mist and the creatures that it hides.  They are ruled by the Warden who is not only their keeper, but also like a mother to them though she is harsh a ruthless at times.  We come to learn that Mara has been made to do things as Rose that she feels quite a lot of guilt about, and she uses pain and sex to ease her feelings of shame and inadequacy.  The also has a lot of thoughts of ending her own life so trigger warnings for suicide as it is mentioned quite a lot.  Mara has a lot of self hatred to work through and while Gareth her love interest tries to help her through it, it overwhelmed the storyline in my opinion.

We do reunite with Mara's family, her sisters, their partners, her parents, and many other key players we have met along the way to thwart the antagonist.  The magic and worldbuilding were as always really interesting.  Legrand always does a great job with those.  Gareth and Mara's characters eventually get together and when they do there are plenty of scenes to solidify their love, Legrand's books are always full of those as well.  I didn't always feel their chemistry, especially with Mara always pushing him away.

Overall this was a good conclusion to the series.

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Review: The Divide Series: War by Magdalene Asante

The Divide Series: War by Magdalene Asante
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the author, all opinions are my own. I'm actually embarrased to admit how long this has been sitting on my TBR. The author reached out to me so long ago to read her book and give it a review. Thank you for the review copy and I'm sorry it took me so long.

I really liked the concept of this book. The curse to find your soulmate or die in angonizing pain if you choose your own path was an interesting and unique way of pitting the various kingdoms against one another. Unfortunately there were so many characters to keep track of and the abrupt jumps in time were hard for me to follow at times.

We are thrown right in to the thick of things with the politics of the various kingdoms in the world, but we don't get much detail about any of them. There are two main kingdoms at play in the book but we never really know why they are at odds or why they want to go to war, other than for power and domination. We also don't get much backstory on the characters and their motivations. For me this made the story hard to follow as I didn't understand why things were happening. I also didn't think that the curse made any sense, both of the characters that were cursed were supposed to be dying, but they were fighting and plotting like these amazing generals at peak health.

Overall this was a good debut, the concept is unique but the pieces didn't quite come together. I don't mind when the plot is slowly revealed over the course of a book or series, but it has to make sense when it all comes together. I think more explanation of the key elements, a bit more worldbuilding, and more backstory of the characters would have really been helpful for me at least.

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Review: The Gatekeeper by James Byrne

The Gatekeeper by James Byrne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a paperback ARC of this ages ago from Minotaur books. I'm not sure if I requested it or won it in a giveaway, but I never got around to reading it, I borrowed the audiobook from the library recently because it fit a prompt for one of the annual reading challenges I do. This isn't my normal genre, which is why I never felt an urge to pick it up. I'm so glad I finally picked this up! This is the first book in series that follows a retired former special forces mercenary. This was action packed and pretty funny.

This follows Dez, who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but fortunately he is the right guy for the situation. Dez is a former special forces mercenary who gets caught up in the politics and legal manipulations of a major military contractor. He just happens to have the skills to uncover and protect his charge, the daughter of the CEO who happens to be in line to take over the company and in charge of the legal department.

If you are a fan of The Terminal List, Jack Reacher, etc I think this would be a good one to pick up though this is a bit more light-hearted Dez is tough and protective, but he is also a musician and has a sense of humor and is always cracking jokes or makes light of situations in his inner monologues. I often lose interest in military type thrillers as they are too serious, but this was fun and funny which kept me interested. I was able to connect with the characters as they felt like real people not just unrealistic military superheroes dealing with crazy situations. Dez is a charming character, and that alone has me wanting to continue with the series. As he and Petra uncover the sinister plot surrounding her famly business, Dez also uncovers a much darker conspiracy that includes murder, politics, and so much more.

This was fun and action packed and while I'm sorry it took me so long to pick it up, I'm glad that there are more books in the series now for me to read.

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Review: I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right by Matt Kaplan

I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right by Matt Kaplan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ALC and ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

If you enjoy non-fiction of the medical or scientific nature give this one a read.  It is easy to follow and doesn't contain a ton of terminology a layperson like myself is unable to follow.  Kaplan, a scientist in his own right, who has turned to journalism writes about those who chose to challenge the status quo in their fields of expertise and where shunned for it only to be proven correct later on.  In some cases those brave souls were give credit for their findings, in others they never saw their ideas and findings do the good in their field.

Kaplans spends a good deal of time focusing on bias that is still present today in archeology, medicine, science, and other industry.  If you don't come from the "right" background and look like everyone else you can't possibly know what you are talking about.  Many women, and people of color (men and women), those of different religions backgrounds, or from different countries, etc, are still not respected despite how much education or expertise they possess in a field and are ridiculed and held back from making breakthroughs because it may bruise the ego of someone higher up the chain or challenge the status quo.  Kaplan points out the science and medicine have been held back for years because scientists and doctors don't like to be told that they are wrong and are slow to adapt to new methods that may produce better results.

I found this fascinating and was shocked to see that the hostility and bias that was present back in the days of Galileo is still rampant today across the world.  The scientific community hasn't learned it's lesson or grown from the many amazing discoveries that have been made from the diversity of minds and diversity of thought that have been brought forth since that time.  While marginally better the fact that any sort of racism, sexism, or -ism in any form is still occurring is unacceptable.  I think of all of the diseases that could have been cured or breakthroughs in medicine if that we could have had if humans weren't so stubborn, selfish and mean to one another.  While humanity has come along way, there is still much work to be done.

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Review: The Body by Bethany C. Morrow

The Body by Bethany C. Morrow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC and ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinion are my own.  

This was so creepy and intense, I don't usually have to take breaks from horror books, but I had to put this down and read something while I was reading this.  I'm not sure how to classify what type of horror book this is.  While this does have some paranormal/magical realism (I think), I think I would classify this more in the social horror category.  Morrow's books tend to fall in that space and this one is an unsettling commentary on religion, power dynamics, misogyny, morality, and more.

Mavis was brought what I would consider by two religious zealots.  She never could quite live up to her parents expectations, and when she didn't marry the man they wanted their judgement and guilt trips become almost unbearable.  When she finally gets married and breaks away from their church, she is still harshly judged, but Mavis is able to gain a bit of control over her life or so she thinks.  Now seven years into her marriage, she suspects that something is wrong and takes things into her own hands.  Her choices and actions lead her down a path of gruesome attacks on herself and her marriage that have her turning back to the two people she least wants advice from.  

This book was unexpected, and while Mavis seems naive at times and you are often left asking "what did you think would happen?"  Her upbringing and desire to please lead to a reckoning when she finally lets her rage out and she has to come to terms with the consequences.  The ending was equally unexpected, but it fits the story perfectly.  This felt like a fever dream the whole time where you weren't sure if Mavis was actually experiencing what was going on or if was all made up.  It had moments of "gore" but they weren't over the top, most of the horror was phycological and trauma based as Mavis comes to terms with what is going on and the things she has experienced and been told to accept.  I'm not usually one for religious or cult horror but this was dark and creepy in the best way!

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Review: After the Fall by Edward Ashton

After the Fall by Edward Ashton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC and ALC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This is the latest standalone from Ashton, which I was really looking forward to after having really enjoyed the Mickey 7 duology and The Fourth Consort.  This didn't have the action and humor of the previous books I've read.  It did have the unlikely relationships we've come to see in Aston's work

This follows John, who I would describe as an indentured servant or pet to Martok, an alien from the species that no dominates Earth after The Fall over 100 years ago.  Martok treats John like a beloved puppy than a bully.  Martok treats him well and has never harmed him, but when a great opportunity comes up he puts John's bond up as collateral for his latest investment.  Martok is not known for making good choices which has left the pair homeless and broke, so naturally John is concerned for his future.  Upon arrival at their new investment property, Martok, John and their newly acquired bond Six hope to turn the place into a retreat where the wealthy can relax.  

I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting.  This takes a much more philosophical turn and begs the question of who is more deserving of rights in society?  I would like to reread this when I am in a different headspace, as those questions are worth pondering but I was not in the right place to think about those questions when reading this.  Sometimes its the right book at the right time.  The premise was interesting as were the characters and the concept of Earth at the time.  The concept of feral humans and aliens who conquered earth was fascinating.  Martok was also a very unique character, who added some humor to the storyline.

The narration was very well done.  The narrator did a great job with giving Martok, John, Six, and all of the other characters life in this future world.

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