Jitterbug is set in near future of our
solar system that’s been drastically altered. All the outer planets have
vanished one by one by invisible forces, with Mars being currently devoured. It’s
only a matter of time before the Earth is gone. In their place has appeared a
ring of artificial planetoids shaped like wedges of orange that curve towards
the sun with nothing on the backside towards the outer space. The humanity has
inhabited the insides of these planetoids.
Criminals, too, like to hide in the
vastness of these new habitats, and to capture them, a system of bounty hunters
has emerged. Copernicus Brown and his three-person crew (two women and a man) are
bounty hunters on Jitterbug, a former freight ship he has inherited from his
father. A distress call brings them to a scene of a pirate attack, from which
they save a woman, Amber Roth. Things go sideways from there.
Roth is
carrying a message that people are willing to kill for. It brings the crew to
the attention of a leading politician, and together, they go to the outside of
the spheres to find the origin of the message—only to learn that the humanity
is about to come under attack by alien forces. Are they the same who created
the sphere in the first place or is something else going on? Whatever it is, Jitterbug and her crew has to deal with it and fast.
This was a
competent sci-fi adventure, a small-scale space opera. Told by four first-person
point of view characters, one of which is Jitterbug herself, it brings the humanity to the brink of extinction and
offers an out of space and time solution to it. It wasn’t entirely engaging though.
It was mostly narrated to the reader, and apart from the first chapters, the first-person
narrators didn’t manage to bring the reader in the story with them. The
intimacy of first-person wasn’t there, and the reader didn’t learn anything
about the characters except what was necessary for the scene. The inevitable
romance especially suffered from this, when neither narrator even hinted at
romantic feelings before it was already a reality.
The ending
twisted this readers brain, but I’m not going to question the time-bending
solution. It brings the story to a full circle, the prologue finally getting an
explanation in the epilogue. It’s a satisfying ending for this standalone
story. No need for more.
I received a
free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Library of Amorlin starts The Age of Beasts fantasy, and it was one of my anticipated
reads for the start of the year. The beginning was promising, but
unfortunately, the book didn’t deliver.
The setting
is interesting. A world of several kingdoms around a neutral zone of a magical
library that bends time and space within its limits. The library is in charge
of protecting magical beasts and mediating between kingdoms. Unfortunately, Kalthos, one
of the kingdoms, is ruled by a religion that sees the beasts as embodiments of
sins, and systematically destroys them. As beasts die, magic becomes more
unpredictable and the natural order of things begin to unravel. So, Kalthos and the library are at direct odds.
The premise is good too. Kasira, in her
late twenties, is a con-artist who grew up on the streets of Kalthos until she
was captured. She was held imprisoned in inhuman conditions for four years,
after which the sentence was commuted to hunting and killing beasts as part of
elite killing units, which she’s been doing for the past three years. And then
she’s offered a chance for freedom by Vera, the Kalthos ambassador to Amorlin:
con her way into the library and bring it under Kalthos’s rule. She has three months. Fail
and it’s back to prison.
Kasira sets out to convince the librarian,
Allaster, that she’s not a Kalthos spy. He doesn’t believe her. He’s right. She
pulls off a couple of cons and manages to change his mind. And then a twist
happens, which changes things for Kasira, sort of but not. And then another
twist, upping the stakes but not. And then the final con that
brings the book to a satisfying conclusion with no cliffhanger ending.
Technically, this all should’ve made for an
interesting book. Problem is, there’s no plot. There are events that spring out
of nowhere and end as fast, with no aftermath or consequences. The events
include cons that Kasira pulls, but how she does them isn’t shown on the page.
What readers see is her reading books, tending to beasts, and training with
Allaster. The plot that affects them both happens elsewhere. There is a war
brewing and a possible coup taking place in Kalthos, on top of the battle for
the library, and on the background, Vera is pulling strings.
The final continues the same. The reader is
shown one thing, only to learn that Kasira has pulled something on the
background. On the surface, it’s interesting, but not as interesting as following
her along it would’ve been. The end result is satisfying and clever, but it
leaves the reader cold.
From the reader’s point of view, Kasira has
no agency in her own story. There are the cons, but the reader isn’t shown them,
and the small wins she creates are made void by an outside influence that
always trumps her efforts, forcing her to react instead of being in charge. We’re
only seemingly following Kasira’s story, but what we get is Vera’s efforts on
the background.
When the protagonist is a con-artist, I
expect to be shown how they plan the cons, and whether they can pull them off,
especially since some here seemed a bit impossible. I don’t want a smug
admission after the fact that “I made this happen,” without being shown—or
even told—how. The surprise factor isn’t interesting. Kasira comes off as
useless, boring and smug on the page. That she makes things work in the end is
fine, but doesn’t feel like a win when we’ve not seen her do it.
Allastair, who also has point of view chapters,
isn’t any better. He’s grabbling with a magical condition that already killed
his predecessor. He’s 130 years old and he still hasn’t found the solution. All
we ever see him doing, when he’s not mistrusting Kasira, is reading. He comes
off as waffling and useless. The same goes with the few side characters. They
all have issues on the background that affect how they act, with some surprises,
but again, it’s not shown on the page.
Without a plot, the author is forced to use
the out of the blue twists to make the story more interesting. All it would’ve
taken is to give the main characters something proactive to do and show it to
the reader. Anything that would take the reader along the ride, anticipate and
fear with them. The events of the ending especially suffered from this. Kasira
is clever, but we get nothing but the aftermath. There wasn’t even a proper
romance yet to make things exciting.
All this is to say that this was a boring
book. There’s no reason to read it; just skip to the end. It took me ages to
finish, and that’s not including the couple of days after the second twist around
60% mark when I stopped reading completely. I almost didn’t pick it up again,
but forced myself to finish. The ending was more conclusive than I expected, and
it was good enough to leave the story here.
I received a free copy from NetGalley in
exchange for an honest review.
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die is a cozy fantasy, of sorts. In a world
not our own, or maybe it is, mad sorcerer Merulo—not called mad yet—declares in
front of the entire court that he’s going to kill the god and put an end to
magic. Forty years later, he’s still at it, only now he’s also at war with the church,
which obviously doesn’t want their god to be killed.
The war isn’t
going well for the church, but the Elder comes up with a prophecy for which she
sacrificed the heart of last dragon, a great source of magic in a world where
magic isn’t unlimited. Sir Cameron, a knight of church, needs to be killed by a
specific method at a specific spot to bring the downfall of Merulo.
Cameron has
coasted being a knight by avoiding battles when possible. His greatest fear is
dying, which is very probable when fighting the sorcerer. So, when he learns about
the prophecy, he doesn’t choose a noble self-sacrifice like the church assumes,
but flees. The only place he can flee to is Merulo.
The
sorcerer isn’t happy that he’s there, but since Cameron not dying is in his
interests, he takes him in. Thing is, the prophecy is very specific and Cameron
needs to die as he is, a beautiful blond man. Transforming him into a vulture
isn’t a problem, then. Merulo prefers him being a vulture even, because Cameron
has a very specific bodily reaction to being threatened and intimidated.
Cameron doesn’t mind being a vulture as such, but having a human body would be
better, so he sets out to cajole Merulo, until he has his body back, by way of
being turned a woman.
At this
point, the story had been a fairly amusing romp of Cameron’s attempts to
survive by seducing Merulo. The young man is conceited and a bit obtuse, but
good-natured and willing to help Merulo, even though he doesn’t understand Merulo’s
need to kill the god when he’ll lose not only his magic but probably his life
too. However, the joke was growing stale and it wasn’t even mid-point yet. Not
even the attempts of Cameron’s former elf squire Glenda to hunt Cameron to kill
him personally amused.
I was ready
to put the book down, but then a couple of twists in short succession switched
the story to a new gear. The tone changed too from a sex comedy to more mellow
search for connection and family. Merulo gets help in his endeavour, and after
forty years, he’s finally ready to kill the god and change the world forever. Cameron
isn’t happy about it, because he’s learned to love the cantankerous old
sorcerer and doesn’t want him to die, but since that’s what Merulo wants, he’ll
be there to the end.
And then
there was another twist, which quite frankly didn’t work very well. There had
been many hints, but it completely switched the tone for the rest of the book
from a secondary world fantasy to something opposite. The book should’ve ended
before that; it would’ve been a good ending. With the twist, the book would’ve
needed much more story than we got to make it work. The epilogue is fairly open
ended though, so maybe there will be a sequel exploring what comes after. I’d
definitely want to know how the world will fare, and have answers to a few
questions that were ignored, like Glenda’s lack of emotions, and why Cameron’s
father hated him, because it wasn’t solely for being gay. And what happened to
the chancellor?
The story
had potential, but it was much too long for the plot. The world felt constantly off,
but that was deliberate, considering its origins—which also turned out to be a
small let-down. Cameron was a fun
character and easy to root for despite being conceited—and he had an upsetting
awakening regarding that. Merulo stayed true to his character throughout even
after learning to love too. Glenda’s POV chapters promised more than they gave
and, in the end, she was pushed aside for another character. I’m especially
disappointed in the latter, a half-dragon witch. The way she was presented gave to understand she
would have a compassionate impact on the characters.
The story had
its fun moments, but never more than a chuckle. Cameron pestering Merulo for
sex was constant, but when the other finally gave in, the scenes ended and were
never mentioned again. Not even when Cameron was a woman to compare matters.
There were hints about Cameron’s preferred gender, but nothing was made of that
either, even though he got to experience being woman, only to want to be a man
again. The pace was fast and light-hearted almost throughout. Chapter headings
were fun and worth reading, but they too often promised insights that were
never shown on the page.
All in all,
this is a difficult book to rate. I’m dithering between three and four stars,
but since it was well-written, the author managed to bring the rather
impossible story to a satisfying end, the characters were good, and the twists interesting,
I will give it four stars.
I received
a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
After the Disabled God of War Became my Concubine vol. 1 by Liu Gou Hua
Continuing
with my streak of most recent danmei publications in English. Liu Gou Hua is also
a new author to me and they turned out to be a very good writer. The narrative
flows without repetition and the plot seems to be actually leading somewhere.
After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine is a transmigration danmei novel with a
historical setting. History professor, Jiang Suizhou, has just finished
rebuking a thesis by his student that seems to be based on imagination, only to
find himself transported to a world that is exactly like the thesis described.
He’s Prince of Jing, whom history doesn’t know much about, as he was a frail,
chronically ill person who died young. His older brother, Jiang Shunheng, is an
emperor in exile, and the last emperor of Jing dynasty. And Prince of Jing is
just about to take a captured and tortured enemy general, Huo Wujiu, as his
concubine, forced by the emperor to humiliate Prince of Jing and Huo Wujiu
both.
Having studied
the era for years, Jiang Suizhou is well-versed in who is who and how things
work, but now his most important guideline is the thesis, which is based on the marriage that history knows nothing about. And according to it, Prince of
Jing will die in three years at the hands of General Huo as a retaliation for
the suffering in his household.
Jiang
Suizhou’s objective is clear: avoid dying. He needs to treat Huo Wujiu, now
Madame Huo, so well the general won’t want to kill him. That’s easier said than
done. Prince of Jing has a reputation of a cruel man and compassion is out of
character. The emperor is a foolish brute controlled by his uncle and enjoys
nothing more than tormenting Prince of Jing and Huo Wujiu both. Jiang Suizhou
knows that the empire will fall in three years when Huo Wujiu returns to north,
but he can’t just hide and wait it out. But he’s almost powerless in the court
and every little thing he tries leads to other people suffering.
On the home
front, he needs to help Huo Wujiu heal from the torture without rousing
suspicions. Outwardly, Madame Huo doesn’t seem to warm up to the prince, but
the reader knows he’s taken an unexpected view of the frail prince and thinks
he’s in need of protecting. And that has made him regard the prince’s two male
concubines with hostility. He’s jealous even, when the prince spends many
nights with them. Little does he know that the concubines are Prince of Jing’s
advisors. The volume ends with a tiny cliffhanger of them giving advice that
will likely infuriate Huo Wujiu and wipe away the goodwill Jiang Suizhou has
managed to build.
This was a
very good start for the story. It was a bit slow at first, and the pace didn’t
really pick up much, but there was nothing unnecessary, the court intrigue was
good, and everything happened in a logical order. Jiang Suizhou was a good
character in a tight spot balancing between the emperor’s wrath and Huo Wujiu.
The latter didn’t have a large role in the first volume, but he managed to make
a difference in Jiang Suizhou’s life already. Despite Huo Wujiu’s budding
jealousy, the romance didn’t really go anywhere yet, but it has a good
foundation here. Prince of Jing’s head eunuch, Meng Qianshan, was a good
comical addition with his constant misunderstandings and good-natured meddling.
I think there
might be revelations in the future about a deeper connection between the past
and the future. Jiang Suizhou looks exactly like Prince of Jing, he shares family
name with the emperor, and Prince of Jing’s real name wasn’t revealed. Jiang
Suizhou doesn’t know it, as it’s one of the things archives never mention. I’m
looking forward to reading more to see where all this leads to.
The Villain's White Halo by Hao Da Juan Wei Sheng Zhi
This is a
new Chinese BL author to me, and there doesn’t seem to be other books by them
translated to English yet. The Villain’s White Halo is a transmigration novel
and takes place in a historical fantasy cultivation world with its own
geography and timelines of hundreds of thousands of years, so not a secondary
earth.
The Villain
emerges as a soul into a Rebirth Company of the in-between space, a business that
caters to the needs of souls that want to transmigrate or reborn. The Villain
has been transmigrating for so long that he doesn’t remember his original name
or world, but in all of them he’s been a two-bit background henchman of the
main villain, dying after a couple of lines, only to transmigrate again. This
time, he wants to be the final boss.
The
employee at the company is eager to help and sells The Villain an ultimate
final boss packet and a fiend halo that activates at certain triggers, like
glaring or saying “I was never good to begin with,” and other villainy lines.
The Villain gets to choose the world, but then he’s sucked into it so fast that
he forgets the halo. The employee throws one after him, only to realise he sent
the wrong one. Unfortunately, the world seals before he can correct the
mistake.
The Villain
emerges as Yin Biyue, a 19-year-old cultivator. Turns out, he’s in a jail for
trying to kill Luo Mingchuan, a fellow cultivator a few years older, and the
protagonist for whom The Villain chose this world in the first place. Things
look bad for Yin Biyue, but the fiend halo, which is in fact the opposite,
though still activated by the villainy triggers, comes to a help, and makes Luo
Mingchuan take the blame for the incident. Both go free.
The
beginning is a bit confusing, and rather slow. The pace doesn’t pick up much
from there, but the story becomes more straightforward and fairly interesting.
Yin Biyue settles into his new life as a cultivator. Thanks to all his previous
lives, he knows what that entails, and he has a soul much stronger than the OG,
so cultivation isn’t a problem for him. His sword is. It won’t recognise his qi
energy, a huge handicap for a cultivator and a potential for a disaster,
because other cultivators might find out he’s not the original Yin Biyue.
The story
leads Yin Biyue, a fellow disciple Duan Chongxuan, who has secrets of his own,
and Luo Mingchuan to a cultivation tournament. The plot of the first volume is
about the journey there and the tournament, which doesn’t end before the first
volume does. There are small conflicts every now and then, but nothing that the
protagonist couldn’t overcome.
Yin Biyue is a good and interesting character, but he isn’t much of a villain. The OG was filled with hate, which may have led to him
trying to kill Luo Mingchuan, but it doesn’t affect Yin Biyue. But because he’s
decided to be a villain, that’s what he sees himself as, but the malfunctioning
halo complicates things. At first, he decides that the storyline is the villain
befriending the hero, only to backstab him, but as the story progresses, he
becomes more and more aware that he might not want to be a villain anymore. And
on the side, his friendship with Luo Mingchuan starts to turn into something
more.
Despite the
rather straightforward storyline, it’s not boring. The author has a great way
to describe cultivation process from within, and make fight scenes lively and like
the reader is part of it. The tone is fairly cozy and the plot low-key, and not
very emotional. Scenes at the Rebirth Company make it a little different from
other stories, and I kept waiting for them to intervene with the real halo.
Maybe that’ll happen later. This wasn’t the most exciting danmei, but I’m
interested in reading more.
