These Shattered Spires by Cassidy Ellis Salter: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

These Shattered Spires by Cassidy Ellis Salter

These Shattered Spires is the author’s debut novel and it’s wonderfully well-formed and mature for one. It’s not an easy read and it doesn’t aim to be one. It’s also not YA, despite the publisher advertising it as such. The main characters may be in their late teens, but the themes aren’t YA and the characters don’t behave or think of themselves as people on the cusp of adulthood. They’re survivors who know they’ll die at any moment. The atmosphere reminds me of Gormenghast, and the world that of Gideon the Ninth.

It’s seldom that a book stands so firmly on its unique world, but here it’s almost its own character. Fourspires Castle is the whole world to its residents. It has always existed at the brink of destruction by a daily apocalypse that has to be stopped with spells every morning by the four head arcanists that inhabit its four towers: black, red, green and grey, corresponding with the magic they wield: bone, blood, botany, and stone. Even with this ceaseless spellcasting, the castle slowly sinks and rots, disappearing piece by piece, diminishing the world. The rot and decay of the castle is described vividly, down to smells and tastes.

The fifth castle at the centre is occupied by the Thaumaturge, the most powerful of the arcanists. He’s centuries old, and his position is coveted by all the arcanists. Then the unthinkable happens and he’s assassinated, which triggers a battle for succession among the arcanists, the Slaughter. It’s a race to the top of the fifth tower, and as the name suggests, deadly, especially so for the familiars of the arcanists.

The familiars are humans trained to wrest, to pull arcania to power the arcanists spells. It’s incredibly painful for them and wears them out bodily. They’re treated badly (they’re not allowed to speak, they’re barely fed, and sleep on floors and filth) and used until they die, usually very young.

The main point of view characters are familiars of different disciplines. Tarenteeno (Taro) is the familiar of the bone arcanist; Nixeen (Nixie), the familiar of the botany arcanist; Elliot, the familiar of a lesser blood arcanist, and Alis/Alix, a disgraced stone familiar. Taro and Nixie have been plotting an escape, but the death of the Thaumaturge ruins their plans. The familiars are instantly marked as participants of the Slaughter and to escape is to die. To participate is to die too, because the new Thaumaturge will instantly kill all familiars but their own.

However, Taro and Nixie learn that the permanent apocalypse of their world isn’t the natural state of things and that there might be a way to stop it and flee. They can’t do it alone though, so they talk the other two into taking part. It’s not an easy alliance or an easy task to pull off, but neither is the Slaughter.

The relationships of the four are complicated. They’ve all trained at the same time in the Pit, the academy for familiars. Taro and Nixie used to date, and Taro still thinks they’re romantically involved. Nixie hates her guts for a betrayal, but is using Taro to escape. Alis used to be Nixie’s best friend before Taro showed up, so she hates Taro, but she also hates Nixie for leaving her. But she loves her too. Elliot is the odd man out, but seems to be coveted and hated in equal measures by the others for his looks.

The characters aren’t nice or easy to root for. They’re selfish and brought down by their harsh life. Elliot is suffering from a curse that makes him especially irritable, Alis is having a gender crisis, Nixie is filled with hate, and Taro isn’t entirely sane. They ally and betray each other, sometimes within the same chapter, and none of them is very likeable. But little by little, reader becomes attached to them, which isn’t wise when people casually and constantly die.

This isn’t an easy book to read. There is pain and suffering inflicted on the main characters, blood and gore, broken body parts and death. It’s not a splatter though, the narrative doesn’t dwell on the gory details, or even a grimdark as such. Suffering is a natural part of the characters’ lives and the narrative treats it so naturally that the reader doesn’t even blink an eye when a character cuts into their own flesh to power a spell. Nonetheless, it does make this a heavy read, and I had to pace myself a lot.

But there is also an undercurrent of hope for something better, an escape that is worth all the pain. This current carried the story against all odds and the harsh reality. Sometimes it paid off, sometimes it plunged the characters even deeper.

A countdown to the Slaughter at the beginning of every chapter keeps the tension rising as the four try to break the curse. And then it begins—and turns out to be something completely different from what everyone believed, as is the end of the curse. For a first book in a trilogy, the ending is fairly conclusive. It sets the stage for the next book, but the story can be left here as well. I’d read more though.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Entwined by H.M. Long: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Entwined by H. M. Long

Entwined is set in a secondary world that resembles the early 20th century with its technology, with two kinds of people: humans and Entwined, people genetically capable of magic who aren’t considered human. The Entwined used to rule Harrow where the events take place, but after a revolution of sorts, humans are now in charge and it means trouble for the Entwined that humans hate. Only the Entwined bound to the Guild can operate freely. But the Guild is a gilded cage that’s not for everyone.

Ottilie is an Entwined who has escaped the Guild. The Guild forces marriages between the Entwined in order to produce offspring capable of magic, and she and her pretend fiancé, Lewis, have fled to avoid it. She’s hiding under a false name from both the Guild and humans in Harrow. She works as a secretary to a private investigator, saving money to flee the country to where Lewis is waiting. He’s a goal to work towards, and maybe a crush she doesn’t want to admit.

Ottilie’s boss has unearthed an artefact a client wants, which should bring in so much money that Ottilie can finally leave. But before the transaction is complete, both the artefact and her boss disappear. The client wants the artefact back and since Ottilie is the only one left, she’s forced to find it. She has a good notion who took it: her sister Pretoria, who has also left the Guild, and become a thief.

The artefact isn’t the only thing bringing Ottilie trouble. Humans are turning against the Entwined and it’s getting more difficult to hide what she is. Human zealots and Entwined terrorists are clashing and creating political upheaval, it could be that the artefact she has to find is a key to destroying the Entwined for good, and man she’s interested in might be a terrorist. On top of this, her other sister shows up too, and she wants to take Ottilie back to the Guild. Things soon get out of hands and Ottilie finds herself in the middle of events she has no way out of.

This was an interesting first book in a duology. The magic powered by different lights (sun, moon, twilight etc.) was unique, and the political situation was complex. It was a bit too complex, to be honest, and I found it confusing a lot of time. The narrative was rich and pulled the reader into the world and the magic effortlessly. The story was a bit slow though, and not as engaging as the events would merit.

The narrative is from Ottilie’s POV. She’s a good character with a lot of baggage, but not as compelling as, for example, Hessa with her rage in Long’s Four Pillars series. I couldn’t quite fathom why she’d come to Harrow where she knew she’d be trapped and why she hadn’t left sooner, as she had the money for it. Many of the events just happened to her and she accepted everything. Her waffling between suitors was very characteristic. It wasn’t until the end that she took a stance and even then, others made the decisions. The side characters, especially the sisters, had good backstories too, but the reader didn’t have similar insight into them as Ottilie, though the epilogue gave a good glimpse.

The book ends at a natural turning point, setting the stage for the second book. Good though this was, the storyline I was most interested in concluded here and nothing particularly compels me to read more. I’m not sure I’ll read the conclusion.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

How (Not) to Conjure a Boyfriend by Jordon Greene: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

How (Not) to Conjure a Boyfriend by Jordon Greene

This is a queer YA retelling of Sandra Bullock-Bill Pullman movie While You Were Sleeping from 1995, which I loved back in the day, but which probably isn’t well known among the YA target (unless they’re middle-aged women like me.) Knowing the plot, I read this mostly to find out how or if the story would differ from the original. There weren’t any surprises, but the story worked well.

Mackenzie is 17, nonbinary semi-orphan with a chronically depressed mother and a one-sided crush on Hayden, 18, a client at the café Kenzie works at. One night, Hayden slips, hits his head, and falls into coma. To get to see him in the hospital, Kenzie lies that they’re his enbyfirend, which the nurse tells to Hayden’s family. To Kenzie’s surprise, everyone is so delighted that Kenzie doesn’t want to reveal the truth. Especially when they’re invited into the kind of loving, warm family they don’t have at home.

The only person who doesn’t believe Kenzie is Zach, 17, Hayden’s equally gorgeous brother. He and Kenzie end up spending time together, and to their horror, Kenzie realises they’re falling for Zach. But instead of coming clean, they double down on the lie. All sorts of misunderstandings and missed opportunities to tell the truth take place, until Hayden wakes up, bringing an end to the lie.

This was a cute, feelgood queer romance, but it never rose to the level of the themes it introduced: gender identity, queerness, or mental health. All characters were understanding and sympathetic, no one was judgemental some misgendering notwithstanding, and no bad things happened. Kenzie’s mother roused from her depression to show some warmth, and even clearing up the lie went without complications. The ending was a bit abrupt, but conclusive and good.

Kenzie was a good character, with a lot going on in their life. I don’t know how well they represented an NB person, and they never reflect on their gender identity. We get more about them being a witch. Mostly they came across as a very typical YA heroine with their inner monologue—all their behaviour or self-expression was fairly feminine—or a Twinkie gay man. The narrative was from Kenzie’s POV, so side characters, Zach included, weren’t terribly well fleshed out. The bestie existed to show sympathy and support. Zach and Hayden’s parents were inspired by Bullock and Pullman. The witchy stuff was also inspired by Bullock’s Practical Magic (1998).

The plot followed the beats of the original. There was no conflict beyond the lie, so the mid-part of the book felt a bit long with filler events where Kenzie and Zach got to know each other. For a YA novel, school didn’t feature except for a couple of mentions, which was both refreshing and odd. All in all, this was an easy read that paid nice homage to the original without rising above it or introducing anything new.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

I really liked Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series, so I was eager to read Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter. It’s set in 1920s Montreal, a location that isn’t exactly overused in fantasy, in a world where a handful of people have ability for magic. Magicians aren’t outlawed, but they’re not entirely tolerated, because they’re careless with their magic, hurting people for fun. And none are more reviled than Havelock Renard, the Witch King, who has almost ended the world with his spell three years earlier.

Agnes Aubert is in her mid-thirties, a widow and an owner of a cat shelter in a town where people don’t really understand the need to shelter cats. A random magic battle on the street outside her shop has left it inhabitable, and she’s searching for a new place before winter comes. Unfortunately, the potential landlords all balk when they hear about the cats.

Out of options, she rents a shop everyone tells her she should stay away from. Even she knows it, sensing something odd about the place, but she’s been inexplicably drawn to it. Everything goes well at first, even if odd people she knows are magicians show up regularly and disappear into the back room where she’s been instructed not to explore.

But then she’s attacked in her shop by a magician who demands an artefact she has no idea about—and a man emerges to defend her. He turns out to be no other than Havelock Renard himself, who is keeping a secret magic artefact shop in her cellar. The magician attacking them is his sister, Valérie.

Havelock is sure he doesn’t have the artefact, but Agnes has a different notion. She has her cats to protect, so she starts unearthing the item from Havelock’s collections. But Valérie isn’t the only person causing the shop trouble. The police are after Havelock too. And to her surprise, Agnes finds she’s not willing to hand him over.

This was a delightful cozy fantasy. In its centre are two sets of siblings with very different dynamics. Agnes has a loving, supporting sister Élise, who goes to battles with her on all fronts. Havelock has a more complicated relationship with his sister who has turned maniac with power. He knows he needs to defeat her, but all he sees is the person who used to take care of him. Magical system is interesting and I’d love to explore the origin world more. And always, everywhere, there are cats getting into places they shouldn’t be, with proper roles and characters.

There’s also a romance of sorts. Agnes is still healing from losing her husband, though it’s been long enough that’s she’s willing to consider a new love. Havelock isn’t really a people person—or not entirely a person anymore, as magic eats away people—so romance is a mystery to him. In the end, it really doesn’t go anywhere, so I hope there’s a follow-up book. The ending is open enough on that front.

However, the book is a bit small in scope, as befits a cozy fantasy. Montreal barely features except in street names that are in French (though I don’t know if they’re real streets) and the fact that people speak French and occasionally English both. The historical setting doesn’t entirely come alive, as everything basically takes place in one location. Side characters seldom have direct dialogue, so they seem like props. A lot seems to be happening on the background that affects the plot—Élise’s husband is a politician fighting for re-election; mages are causing havoc; the police are hunting magicians—but they solve themselves rather easily. Agnes is more concerned about her cats, which stalls the plot in the middle.

But in the end, it’s human ingenuity that wins the day, the ending is conclusive and good, and though the romance didn’t really happen, it leaves Agnes and Havelock in a good place. All cats found homes. I’d read more.

Jitterbug by Gareth L. Powell: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

Jitterbug by Gareth L. Powell

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.