The Three Coffin Problem by Lavie Tidhar: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

The Three Coffin Problem by Lavie Tidhar

This is a collection of short stories published separately before. They feature Jonathan, a human assistant to Judge Dee, an ancient vampire. Set in late medieval era, the pair wander from Italy through Europe to London, visiting vampires who are in need of a judge or judgement. They start light, and progress to longer and more detailed, with the titular story being last.

Each chapter tells a full story. Jonathan and Judge Dee arrive somewhere, face vampires who have summoned them or whom the vampire council—of which we never learn anything—has sent the judge to investigate. Death or murder itself isn’t a cause for alarm; they’re vampires after all. But sometimes a murder needs investigating, or more often, the judge has been summoned to witness the cleverness of a vampire as they orchestrate a change of some kind, maybe kill a spouse or a previous owner of a castle.

Each story is told in third person from Jonathan’s point of view. He’s a young man the judge has saved from the streets of London, though we never learn what from, and he feels honour-bound to follow the judge around as his assistant. He’s treated like food by other vampires, but Judge Dee, an ascetic, protects him, doesn’t drink his blood and occasionally even remembers to feed him. Things could be worse, as Jonathan often thinks. They usually are.

This was a delightful cozy fantasy. The stories are fast-paced and interesting, and form a whole, with some characters returning and some mentions of earlier events. Medieval Europe features as a rich backdrop, though the exact time is never clear, and the vampires are interesting and with unique abilities (they turn to wolf and mist too.) Jonathan’s life progressed steadily, and he even learns things about Judge Dee he never thought possible. Each case is unique and seldom end the way the reader expects. And in one occasion, it’s the judge himself being judged. Those vampire librarians are stern on overdue loans.

If you’re looking for a cozy read that’s a tiny bit gruesome, with fun whodunnits, this book is definitely for you.

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

The Wife Comes First vol. 2 by Lv Ye Qian He: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

The Wife Comes First vol. 2 by Lv Ye Qian He

In the second volume, the reincarnated prince Jing Shao sets out to handle war campaigns that almost cost him his life the first time round. And now the war has come years earlier, so he can’t be sure it goes the way he remembers. But this time, he has his gentleman wife, Mu Hanzhang, with him as a strategist, keeping their marriage a secret from everyone.

From the start, things go differently. Mu Hanzhang uncovers a large case of embezzlement that had led to Jing Shao’s downfall in his first life. And Jing Shao is able to recruit a warrior that almost singlehandedly turns some battles for him. The war proceeds fast and the prince is victorious. But he can’t afford to give the emperor a notion that he’ll use his success as an attempt to usurp the throne. So it’s time to strategize with the knowledge he has from his first life. But Mu Hanzhang is starting to become suspicious of his knowledge.

Jing Shao’s generals are impressed with Mu Hanzhang, but they’re wondering why the prince spends his nights at the strategist’s tent. There are some comedic moments as the couple tries to keep their relationship secret and the generals try to uncover things. There are plenty of bedroom moments for everyone to realise what’s going on. There’s also a cute tiger cub Mu Hanzhang adopts that adds to the sweetness, though they could treat him a bit better.

This was a good volume. It’s fast-paced and well-written, and there’s plenty of action. The battle scenes are especially good and not too drawn out. Jing Shao and Mu Hanzhang are very much in love, so the romance doesn’t bring tension to the story. The volume ends at a tiny cliffhanger, but I doubt anything comes of it either. Overall, despite all the wars, the stakes remain pretty low and conflicts are handled fairly easily. A lovely low-angst read.

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine vol. 2 by Liu Gou Hua: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine vol. 2 by Liu Gou Hua

The second volume of the story of Jiang Suizhou, a modern-day history professor who has transmigrated to past, continues where the first left off. As Prince of Jing, the sickly brother of what he knows to be the last emperor of the current dynasty, he uses his knowledge of what’s to come to change the outcome more favourable for himself.

Jiang Suizhou’s main aim is to try to prevent Huo Wujiu, the enemy general who’ll eventually be victorious, from killing him, as he knows will happen. He’s a bit out of his depth with Huo Wujiu though, because the present reality doesn’t match the history records. Huo Wujiu is his prisoner and his concubine, like a paper he was grading before he transmigrated suggested, much to his anger.

Huo Wujiu is badly injured because of the torture he’s been submitted to. Jiang Suizhou, together with his two advisors, both pretending to be his concubines, have come up with a plan to find a doctor for him. Jiang Suizhou will fall gravely ill—thanks to a poison—and when the imperial doctors are unable to heal him, he can summon his own doctors.

The plan works better than he could believe. The doctor is capable and in no time at all, he can make Huo Wujiu’s legs work again. Not that they tell Jiang Suizhou. And he tells Jiang Suizhou that his sickly constitution is because of poisoning in his childhood and can be reversed.

The second volume was full of court intrigue. Jiang Suizhou is busy trying to thwart the schemes of the emperor’s uncle, the Grand Chancellor. He’s successful, but it brings the chancellor’s wrath on him. Soon, his life is in danger. Luckily for him, Huo Wujiu isn’t as helpless as he appears.

But the best part of the second volume was the development of the relationship of Jiang Suizhou and Huo Wujiu. It emerges during long hours when Jiang Suizhou sits by Huo Wujiu’s bedside when he suffers from the effects of the healing process, and blossoms in their scheming against the emperor. There’s still secrets between them and many misunderstandings of each other’s intentions, but some sweet moments too. And the ending brings clarity to one thing: Jiang Suizhou has definitely caught feelings.

This continues to be well-written and entertaining. There’s nothing unnecessary, no fillers and no repetitions. The characters are well-formed and the plot is interesting. The romance is slow-burn, but worth rooting for. I’ll definitely read more.

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Field Guide for the Formerly Villanous by Autumn K. England

Oaklin Nettlewood is trying to rebuild their life after years in a brainwashing evil cult that has left them without most of their memories and a fear of using their magic ever again, in case it’s used for evil. They buy a small farm in a quiet village with a vague notion that they come from a farming family—and how difficult can it be anyway.

It’s not an easy start to a new life. Oaklin isn’t a sociable person to begin with and their fear that people of the village will find out they’ve been in a hated cult prevents them from even trying to make friends. But the people of the village have different ideas. They pull them in, and despite themself, they find warming up to their new friends. There’s even a special person they think might be more than a friend—even though she’s a member of a church that used to hunt evil cultists like them. But then inquisition arrives to the peaceful village to hunt former cultists, plunging Oaklin back into despair.

At home on the farm, things aren’t as simple as they hoped either. The ghost of the previous owner still resides there, which turns out to be good, because she knows everything there is to know about farming the place. The bad thing, for Oaklin, is that farming the place requires magic, which they’ve sworn off for good. But the no-nonsense granny is exactly what Oaklin needs to get over their trauma.

Field Guide for the Formerly Villanous is a lovely, feel-good cozy fantasy. It’s a pleasant read, where all characters are nice, good and extremely understanding, but not too twee. Oaklin’s trauma is real and heartfelt, and it’s not glossed over or brushed away. They have to work their way through it. Luckily, they have the ghost and their friends to help them. Characters are mostly non-binary or gay, and it’s never questioned, so the world—a rural pre-industrial society with magic—is diverse and accepting. The ending is conclusive and good, but this appears to be the first book in a series, so we’ll get to read more about Oaklin’s adventures as a farmer. Or maybe we get the stories of the side characters, like Ryn and Jules’s. I would read it.

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

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Radiant Star by Ann Leckie

Radiant Star is part of the Imperial Radch series, but a stand-alone. While it’ll work best if the reader knows the world and the previous events, it can—to an extent—be read as a stand-alone too. It’s set during the timeline of the original trilogy, but it’s only tangentially touched by those events.

Planet Aai is drifting in space without a sun, completely encased in ice. But it’s inhabited, and the city of Ooioiaa is a thriving underneath the ice. The ecosystem is delicate though, and the planet is heavily dependent on outside provisions. The culture and society are delicate systems too, which the Radchaai discover a bit too late after they conquer the planet.

Thirty years after the arrival of the Radchaai, the planet finds itself cut off the rest of the universe. Since there’s no communication and no way to travel in and out of their space, they don’t know what’s happening or how long it’ll last, and there are no provisions. The Radchaai governor realises that food will soon become scarce and introduces the Radch food stable, a fast-growing algae, into the ecosystem. At first, it works fine. And then the ecosystem collapses and the governor has a famine at her hands.

The governor has other problems too. The local religion that worships the Radiant Star, waiting for its return, is fractured into sects that are constantly fighting, and she has to share space with them. An introduction of the last saint—a practice the governor is trying to end—pushes matters to a point, destabilising an already fragile society.

Within this framework of a city on a brink of collapsing, three people emerge. Speaking Savant Keemat, who becomes convinced that they should be the last saint; Jonr, a neglected son of a consoror system who was supposed to be shipped out of the planet before the Radchaai arrived, but who has been stuck in a stasis pod for three decades, only to emerge to a changed world with no place in it; and Iono, whose father is supposed to be the last saint, which pushes him into a personal crisis and questionable choices. Other characters feature too, but these three are the main stories. Everything is narrated by an all-knowing, unknown person years after the events of the book.

The stories are, in a way, about small personal goals that either work or fail. They don’t come to a point simultaneously, and only Keemat gets the ending they wish and work for. Iono, who isn’t a very likable character, gets what he has coming, but also not. Jonr’s story is the one I had highest hopes for, but it ended up being the most neglected one. It doesn’t really lead to anything but a status quo for him, nor does it have any impact on the overall plot. We don’t even get a last chapter or epilogue from his POV, nor do we learn what had happened to the consoror he’s in charge of.

The chaos that the planet finds itself in comes to a surprisingly peaceful closure soon enough. Nothing much changes on the planet in the end. The Imperial Radch has changed, but that doesn’t really impact the story here. All the solutions to the governor’s problems seem a bit like deus ex machina, as the narrator divulges information as they see fit, the actual plot happening behind the scenes. Most of the time, the plot was revealed backwards, after the fact.

This was perhaps the simplest, most straightforward book in the series so far, and most readable and easiest to follow. Ancillaries featured, but weren’t a POV character, so there were no complicated scenes where the reader had to follow many events at once. The plot was simple, about the consequences of meddling with the ecosystem. The characters were mostly grey and a bit difficult to root for, except for Jonr who deserved all the best. The problems solved fairly easily and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the book ended.

This was an engaging book, but it wasn’t mind-blowing like the previous ones have been. But anything Leckie writes in this universe will interest me, and I’ll definitely read more.