Skip to main content

Posts

My Most Anticipated Books Releases of 2024

With 2024 just around the corner, we have a whole new batch of book releases to look forward to. The lineup looks stacked and it was difficult to narrow my list down, but here are some of the SFF, horror, and historical books that I'm most excited to read.  This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer Release: January 16, 2024 This trip is going to be Dylan’s big break. Her geologist friend Clay has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing. Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears, and fingers removed. But Dylan is s
Recent posts

Book Review | The Bride of Death

When the Lord of the Underworld, Erlik Khan, possesses Zerryn’s childhood friend, the two strike a bargain. If she can win a series of trials and Erlik’s hand in marriage, he’ll release her friend or else her friend will die before winter. The Bride of Death by F.M. Aden weaves a flawed but enthralling tale inspired by Turkish folklore. Let's start with what I liked about the book. I think this is actually the first fantasy book I’ve read that includes Turkish folklore and mythological creatures, so it was a refreshing departure from all the Nordic and Greek-inspired fantasies that are so prolific. The romance itself is deliciously swoonworthy. That part was great! I mean, the main love interest has extra arms ... for hugging, and I’m sure it’ll delight fans of Death and the Maiden trope, I-offer-the-world-at-your-feet dynamics. However, there were certain rushed plot developments towards the end that I felt undid so many of the themes the story had built up, and, for me to dive i

Book Review | Redsight

After spending years as a cleric of Vermicula, Korinna believes she is a failure with no natural aptitude for Redsight. However, during a test simulation, she catches the eye of a political advisor and gets assigned as a navigator to an important imperial warship. There pirates seize her ship and her whole world is turned upside down, forcing her to decide where her loyalties lie. Redsight  by Meredith Mooring weaves a queer, Bene Gesserit-inspired space opera that unfortunately fell flat on its execution. Coming into this one, I wanted to love it so badly (I mean, come on. Gay nuns in space sounds amazing), but so much of the plot and worldbuilding didn't make sense to me. For instance, in one passage we're told: "Over the centuries, the cellular differences between Redseers had been eliminated until every descendant had the same proteins, the same flesh, the same blood." If Redseers are all genetically the same though, how is it that there are varying power levels b

Book Review | A Tempest of Tea

In the city of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir runs a tea house that secretly doubles as an illegal blood house for vampires. However, when the Owl threatens to shut her establishment down, she plans a daring heist to steal incriminating evidence against them in order to blackmail them into letting her keep the place. A Tempest of Tea  by Hafsah Faizal is a delightful romp that made me realize how much I missed fantasy heists along the lines of  Six of Crows . There’s witty banter, found family, and a ride or die crew. The main cast is charming and endearing, and each of them feels distinct and fleshed out, which I’ve sadly been missing out from a lot of other fantasy novels with larger casts lately. However, for a high fantasy with multiple POVs, this is definitely a book that should have been longer since the final third felt incredibly rushed. There were so many plot twists and major events back-to-back that it gave me whiplash, and they began to lose their emotional impact. I wish th

Book Review | Fathomfolk

Fathomfolk  by Eliza Chan paints a vivid and richly imaginative oceanic world filled with sirens, kappas, and kelpies galore. The story takes place in the half-submerged city of Tiankawi where humans live in skyscrapers—literally looking down on aquatic mythological creatures and dumping toxic industrial waste into their waters. Now, the storyline itself is told from 3 POVs: - Nami, the sheltered daughter of an affluent dragon family. However, when she's caught trying to steal (well, technically reclaim) a dragon pearl from the human government, she's banished to the city of Tiankawi where she becomes entangled with a group of rebels. - Mira, a half-siren and the newly appointed captain of border patrol, but after rebels sabotage a city festival and as tensions rise between humans and fathomfolk, she finds herself torn between divided loyalties. - Cordelia, a sea witch who is plotting behind the scenes. At first, I was really excited to read a book that explores themes of envir

Book Review | The Butcher of the Forest

Veris Thorn is the only person to have returned from Elmever alive, so when the Tyrant’s children go missing, she’s tasked with entering the cursed woods once more and returning them. However, along the way, she must face the woods’ devious denizens while confronting her own traumatic past. The Butcher of the Forest  by Premee Mohamed weaves a masterfully told, twisted fairy tale. It’s a darkly whimsical read that leans into horror territory. Here the woods are sentient and its trees shift and disorient travelers. There are creepy deer (and a unicorn), and the pages ooze with body horror and uncanny dread. All in all, if you loved the mind-bending trippiness of the forest in  The Ritual  or the messed up bear from  Annihilation , you'll probably love this novella as well. Thank you you, Netgalley and Tordotcom, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book Details: Publication Date : February 27, 2024 Publisher : Tordotcom ISBN : 1250881781 Pages : 160

Book Review | A Fate Inked in Blood

Coming into  A Fate Inked in Blood , I really wanted to love it. I adore mythology and Nordic-inspired fantasy and it sounded so up my alley, but the sheer amount of flat, irrational characters in this one made for an extremely frustrating read. Warning , for me to talk about the issues I had with this book more in depth, there will be  spoilers  ahead. For starters, the characters in this book are so bafflingly stupid. For instance, the Jarl forces his Tyr-blessed son and heir into a death match against Freya in a scheme to force her to use her powers. Then he proceeds to become upset that Freya was burned by Tyr's fire despite the fact that he never warned his son about his real plan ahead of time. Both of them could have been gravely injured the other or worse, and to me this was such a reckless gamble. It would have been much smarter for the Jarl to have a less consequential warrior threaten Freya's brother's life instead. Also, this might boil down to personal preferen

Book Review | Tales of the Celestial Kingdom

In  Tales of the Celestial Kingdom  by Sue Lynn Tan, we revisit the enchanting world and characters of  The Celestial Kingdom  duology through a new collection of short stories.  As a nice thematic touch, the book is divided into three parts: Dusk, Twilight, Dawn. The Dusk section serves as a prequel to the series and follows the legend of the sunbird from both Change'e and Houyi's perspectives. The Twilight section takes place during the events of  Daughter of the Moon Goddess  and  Heart of the Sun Warrior . Here we get a story about Wenzhi and Xingyin fighting a bone devil together, which I was happy to see since my one complaint about the first novel is that their relationship didn’t get enough screen time or development. Then Dawn serves almost as an extra epilogue to the series—allowing readers to further glimpse into the characters’ lives following the events of the sequel. Lastly, I want to mention that the book gorgeous illustrations on the inside, which I really appre